Vital Fluid
by AoJayBird
Summary: Darcy is kidnapped by a vampire, Alec, who it turns out needs her, as he ventures to become his vampire coven's leader, but can Darcy survive the journey having to overcome Alec's feelings for her, Alec's jealous ex and vengeful vampires.
1. Chapter 1

_Two AM. It was the fifth time in a row I was late out from work that week. I hated my boss sometimes; I was usually the one left to lock up, we were seriously understaffed. I walked outside and locked up the restaurant, a nice little pizza place on the corner of the street. It was dark and cold outside so I wrapped my coat around me tightly as I started to walk home. I shivered as a cold breeze hit my face and my fringe flew off my face. My phone started to ring in my bag. I sighed and pulled it out exposing my warm hands to the cold where they had been in my pockets. It was Sarah, my work colleague. I answered, she was just checking to make sure I got home all right, knowing that the boss had made me work late again. I told her I was about a block away from my flat, which I was, at which she seemed satisfied. I said goodbye and hung up. I had only been on the phone for about five minutes but my hand had already gone numb from the cold. I lost grip on my phone as I ended the call and it slipped out of my hand crashing on the floor, the back of the phone breaking off into the alleyway I was passing. I bent down to pick up one half of the phone then walking slightly to the alleyway entrance to retrieve the other half, luckily it hadn't fallen too far in, it was cold and I wanted to go home. As I was about to bend down I suddenly heard shuffling and low voices not far from where I was. I looked up from the phone half on the floor to see two men; one had the other pinned against the brick wall. They both turned from looking at each other to me. _

_"Crap," I thought. It was too dark to see for sure what was going on between the two but I knew it couldn't be good. Before I had a chance to move, even blink, the man being pinned escaped from the other's grasp and came bounding my way. I thought he was running away but I was wrong. I felt my body lose balance as I was pushed roughly. I landed on the floor, my head hitting the concrete floor, giving me a splitting headache. I gasped and screamed out as something hard slashed the flesh by my hip. Pain seeped through my body and my eyelids closed, as the pain was too much to bear, the cold wasn't the only thing I was worried about now. Darkness came as I passed into a deep sleep, the pain too much for my body to cope with. _

_"Oww," I groaned as I regained consciousness, my head was thumping so hard and my stomach! The pain! I half opened my eyes but they were too heavy and it was too bright, it blinded me, I closed them again and fell back asleep. _

_I stirred in my sleep; I opened my eyes, finding it much easier than before. It was dark this time, my head still hurt but not as much, my stomach was stinging. I groaned and moved slightly, which I wished I didn't, as pain ripped through me. I scrunched my face up in pain and lay still waiting for the pain to subside a bit. Then I remembered, the man who had jumped at me. I turned my head and inspected the room I was in, and the bed I was laying in. The room was quite big from what I could see laying down; a large doorway to my right let in the moonlight from outside. There were two other doorways in the room, but I didn't know what they were for and I didn't really care, I just wanted to know where I was, well obviously in some sort of bedroom but where and whose! Just turning my head had tired me out and the pain was now getting worse. I closed my eyes and sighed. I didn't know where I was or why I was there, or even what had happened to me. My thoughts started to slur as my body took me to sleep yet again._

_I turned over in the bed, waking up to a cool breeze coming from somewhere I didn't know. I opened my eyes slowly. It must have been early afternoon sometime, as light filtered through the open doorway to my right. Who had opened the window? I tried to move maneuver myself so I could get into a more comfortable position but my stomach twinged in anger as I moved. I went to look under the covers to see my injury, feeling much more awake and energized that I had the last time I had woken up, whenever that was. I was about to when I heard a voice,_

_"Try not to move too much, you don't want to reopen your wound."_

_My eyes snapped to a figure I had not seen sitting in a chair opposite the bed. It was a man; I couldn't see him properly as I was lying down. He had his elbows on his knees and his head resting in his hands. He was looking at me, his dark brown hair flopping on his forehead and occasionally into his eyes which he would flick away with a slight toss of his head. Who was he? I was cautious not knowing what to do or say. Before I could think of anything, he spoke again. _

_"What's your name?" He asked. _

_I tried to sit up to see him better, not knowing whether to answer his question and lie, tell him the truth or just not answer at all. _

_"I said try not to move," he repeated but this time he was closer, much closer to me. There was barely a centimeter between us. I had to look away feeling embarrassed as he entered my personal space. I looked at my hand instead where his was resting on top of it to stop me from pushing myself up any further. His hands were cold much too cold and I shivered beneath them. He seemed to notice and took his hand away. He moved further back as well perched on the edge of a __chaise longue__ to the right of the bed. His eyes were a deep brown like his hair sparkling brightly when they hit the light. He had a perfectly angled face and a strong jaw. I relaxed back into the bed doing as he said. _

_"It's Darcy." I answered truthfully and subconsciously, shocked out of it by his sudden closeness. "Where am I?" I asked, again not thinking before I said anything, I hoped I wasn't in danger. _

_"You were…" he paused for a bit, "…hurt," he managed to finally say. "Do you remember anything?" He asked._

_I tried to think but my memory was hazy. "I only remember working..." I couldn't remember anymore which slightly worried me. "Sorry, what was your name?" I asked, still a little unsure of him and the situation. The man smiled._

_"It's Alec," he answered._

_"So what exactly happened? How was I hurt?" I asked eager to find out. _

_He frowned. "You were attacked and stabbed. You lost a lot of blood, close to death I would say. If I didn't take you home, who knows what would have happened."_

_My memory came back to me a bit clearer than before. "I dropped my phone..." I mumbled. "...thank-you for saving my life but why didn't you take me to a hospital, are you a doctor or something?" I questioned him. _

_He frowned, "My home was closer, and I have staff that has medical training."_

"_Staff?" I thought, I was a little confused but decided not to pursue the question anymore, keen to find out something else. "So, when do you think I'll be able to go home?" I asked him. _

_His frown deepened. "You can't go home Darcy." _

_At first I thought it was a joke then I realized in sick horror that I might have been kidnapped who knows what could happen to me. _

_"Wh…Wh….What do you mean?" I stuttered getting much more nervous. _

_He didn't answer and just looked at the floor. He seemed to know where my thoughts were leading._

_"You're safe, I won't hurt you, I promise. You just can't go home."_

_Now I was definitely confused. What did he mean? My nerves sub siding a little, as I saw truth in his words and the apparent shame on his face when he looked up to answer my question. _

_"Why?" I asked, confused and a bit angry. I moved in the bed, wanting to sit up. It hurt my stomach but I didn't care._

_"Don't move." Alec said again slightly agitated that I kept trying to. _

_I didn't listen to him; I didn't want to listen to him, what sort of sick man picks a dying woman up off the street and keeps her like a pet! I sat up suddenly, my anger coming to a pinnacle as new and angry thoughts ran through my mind. I turned to face him but I abruptly realised something was wrong. Pain spread through my body ten times worse than it had been before. My mind went quiet as all thoughts escaped me as the pain distracted me. My face must have gone a deathly pale. I pushed the covers away from myself, exposing my body to the breeze and looked down at my stomach. Blood was seeping out of a bandage near my hip and I realised what I had done. I looked up from the wound at Alec shocked. He stared at me briefly then looking at my wound before shouting out,_

_"Zane!" I heard Alec. _

_I leaned back on my pillow again feeling the pain get worse. I heard a door open and someone rushed in. He lent beside me. Who was he? I thought but didn't really care at the time as I felt the energy I had just gained flood away from me, I closed my eyes, now feeling them a burden to hold open. _

_"Pull her hands back." I heard the new guy say to Alec. _

_No matter how much pain I was in I didn't want Alec coming anywhere near me, I was still too angry at him. _

_"Get off of me!" I shouted to him as I felt his hands pin mine away from my stomach._

_He ignored me._

"_She'll be alright, she's reopened the wound a bit, but it's nothing serious, well unless we stop the blood that is." He voice started to become faint, "What did you say to her? I told you to wait to talk to her until she was fully healed." _

_I couldn't listen to anymore, the blood was pumping too loudly in my ears, I soon passed out._


	2. Chapter 2

_I woke up, yet again, it was light outside, I could hear birds singing in the distance, it felt like morning. I felt groggy but other than that, I felt fine. I pulled back the covers to look at my hip remembering what had occurred. There was a fresh bandage across it. I touched it lightly, it was sore but I thought I would be able to move more easily then I could before. I swung my legs off the bed slowly so I didn't hurt myself again. I felt dizzy for a second but then I was ok. I looked around, no sign of that guy, Alec I think his name was, good. I didn't even want to think his name let alone see him. I frowned and began to pull myself off the bed. I used the table next to me to help me up and then walked slowly over to the wall ahead taking a small blanket that was on top of the duvet to keep me warm. I leant against the wall and wrapped the blanket over my shoulders. It was tiring work, walking. After a couple of seconds breathing time I got up off the wall and made my way to the doors that were open the last time I was awake, using the wall as support. It was good to be up at last, although tiring. When I finally reached the doors, which seemed like hours, I realised the doors led to a balcony. I tried to open them, as they were now closed, but I was too weak so I just stood there looking at the view. It was beautiful. There were mountains in the distance, a misty blue in the morning sun. There was a dense forest to my right; the most luxurious colour green I had ever seen. I was above a patio so I guessed that I had a garden view. Where was I? I had never seen a place like this before, only in films at least. I sighed, thinking of the last conversation I had. "Why can't I go home?" I thought. I turned my head slightly as I heard a lock of a door click behind me. I turned around slowly to see Alec standing in a doorway opposite the one I was leaning against. I frowned at him and then turned back around; trying not to acknowledge that he had even walked in. _

_"Darcy." I heard him say. I closed my eyes and sighed._

_"Darcy let me explain." I opened my eyes and carried on ignoring him. _

_"Darcy," He growled my name this time and it scared me. _

_"Go away." I said, expressing my discontent. _

_"No Darcy," He was right behind me, I didn't even hear him move. It scared me and I jumped a little. "Darcy, turn around."_

_What was his obsession with saying my name? I didn't turn around, mainly because it would take me a while but also because I couldn't bring myself to look at his face, it would just make me angrier. Before I had a chance to know what was happening, I had been turned around and pinned against the wall next to the window. My arms were pinned above my head and I gave a small cry of pain as my wound stretched out. I looked down to find my blanket had fallen off and I felt myself shiver as the cool breeze hit me, and the fact that his cold hands were on my bare skin. _

_"Listen to me Darcy; I can explain why you can't go home." I could feel his face close to mine. I looked down away from him. _

"_Can you let me go please, you're hurting me?" I mumbled. _

_He seemed to ignore me. I heard him sigh. _

_"I'm a vampire." He blurted out suddenly. He was silent for a while waiting for my reaction. _

_What? Was this guy mad? My life has been saved by a lunatic. Now he's kidnapping me! I stayed silent, scared of being in his presence. _

_He carried on talking, after waiting for me a react, which I didn't, well only in my head. "You can't go home because I need you. I need you to survive. I'm about to take over leading my vampire coven, its tradition for a vampire to have a link...a person they feed from." _

_My eyes widened at this, which I think he saw. "Don't worry it's probably nothing like you've seen in films or read about. It's virtually painless and I won't take too much blood from you at a time." He misunderstood my reaction to his words; my eyes widened because I confirmed my idea that he was a lunatic, not because I believed the fact that he wanted to take blood from me. I stayed quite still, contemplating his words. _

_His grip had loosened on me and I decided this was the time to move away from him. I made my way back to the bed using the wall to support myself. He let me go this time, watching me, which made me very self-conscious. I was struggling, very tired now, and sore from where he had pushed my arms up, and he knew it. _

_"Let me help," he said placing his hand on my arm. _

_"No," I said shaking it off. He stood back seeming offended. I climbed into the bed making sure I didn't hurt myself. I pulled the covers back up and laid down._

_"Look, maybe I didn't explain that very well..." he said when I had settled myself down. _

_"Please, just go." I cut in, I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, him being crazy and all, he could attack me at any time, but I couldn't help myself. He looked upset, which was good I suppose, better than being angry, he turned around and left. _

_I didn't know what to think then, I laid in bed pondering for a while after he left. How could it be true, what he said about him being a vampire I mean? It was strange, I definitely believed that he was a bit crazy, but it's as if I saw truth in his eyes, even though I was trying to avoid his eyes at all costs. I spent the better part of the morning just laying there and thinking. I realised that this must have been the first in a very long time where I had time to myself to think, I had always been so busy at work. Then a thought occurred to me which I couldn't believe hadn't come to me before. I didn't want to stay here, so why not just leave. It might take me a while to get to the door and find my way out, but it was worth a chance, even if I was dressed in a rather skimpy nightdress. Then another thought came to my mind, was I stupid? If this guy did kidnapped me, if I tried to escape who knows what he would do to me. Before I could make up my mind however, there was a knock at the door, which I ignored, the person came in regardless. It was a small plump woman, wearing a black skirt and white blouse, rather like a maid's uniform. She was carrying a tray of food._

_"Do you work here?" I asked her as I turned on my side carefully, it seemed a rather stupid question after I asked it, but I was bored and it was someone different to talk to, after all talking couldn't get me into trouble could it? I hoped not._

_"I do ma'am," came her reply._

_Ma'am? I thought I was the prisoner here._

_"Are you paid well, if you don't mind me asking?" I had to know because it might be one of those situations like in a book or film where the heroines are abducted by evil beings who exploit their workers. It was a long shot and fictional but you never know. _

_"I am ma'am." The woman said again. I sighed my theory might not have be right then. _

_"What is your name?" I asked her, trying not to be rude._

_"Doreen ma'am." _

_"Mine's Darcy, please don't call me ma'am."_

_"Sorry ma...Darcy." She answered placing the tray on the side. She turned to leave._

_I made my way to the left edge of my bed where Doreen was, already anticipating the answer to my next question._

_"Is he...you know...a vampire?" I was referring to Alec of course; I just didn't want to say his name. _

_Doreen gave me a look as if wondering if she should answer or not. She already knew who I was talking about. _

_"He is." She eventually said. I sighed still not knowing if I should believe it true or not. She left._

_"Thanks for the food." I shouted after her. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Later that day there was another knock on my door. I didn't bother to answer again. _

_"Ah, you're up," a man I didn't recognise said. He looked slightly like Alec except his eyes were grey, not brown and his hair was somewhat darker and a great deal shorter. He was also slightly less muscular but he seemed friendlier. I frowned at him as I sat on the __chaise longue__ with the blanket over myself. _

_Sensing that I wasn't going to say anything to him, he said, "I'm Zane by the way. I came to check your wound, but by the looks of it you're feeling much better." _

_This was the man that had rushed into my room the other night before I passed out. I must have seemed reluctant for him to come near me, which I was, considering I didn't know him and that he was friends with a lunatic. _

_"Don't worry I won't hurt you, I'm a doctor if it helps. Can you lay on the bed for me?"_

_"How can I trust you?" I asked him._

_"I saved your life, didn't I? Well Alec did, I just did the medical part, but between you and me that the hardest part," he winked at me. _

_I sighed and got up off the chair and slowly made my way to my bed. What did I have to lose? This guy seemed to have saved my life twice already, he wasn't about to kill me now. Right?_

_"Do you need help?" he asked._

_"No I'm fine thanks." I mumbled. _

_I laid on the bed, looking up at the ceiling._

_"Ok" he said sighing as he knelt down on the floor next to my bed. I turned to face him not feeling the same anger for him as I had for Alec. "This might hurt a bit but I'll try my best to keep you pain free." He lifted up the nightdress I was wearing, which I didn't like at all, but he didn't seem to have any "bad" thoughts, that I knew of. _

_"Are you really vampires?" I asked before I could stop the words rolling from my tongue. _

_He chuckled and at first I thought he was going to say no and that it was just another of Alec's silly jokes. However, he didn't. "Is it impossible for vampires to exist?" he asked me, was it a rhetorical question or not? I decided against saying anything, which led to a long silence between us. Nevertheless, eventually I couldn't resist asking one more question,_

_"You're not going to hurt me are you?"_

_"Why would Alec save your life just for us to kill you?" _

_Was he answering all of my questions with questions on purpose?_

_"Was that a no?"_

_He smiled, "Yes, it was a no."_

_"Why do I have to stay here?" I didn't know why but since I had asked one question I couldn't help myself just talking, I mean Zane seemed nice enough and kind, but then I shouldn't drop my guard so easily just in case. _

_"Hasn't Alec told you?" Zane replied. _

"_Oww!" I exclaimed as he caught a sore bit of my wound. _

"_Sorry," He mumbled in response._

_"He has, sort of, but…" I trailed off, carrying on the conversation. _

"…_you don't believe him." Zane finished for me. He looked at me in the way a father would look at his child. "What he says is the truth, he may not have told you in the right way, he's not mad or crazy, and neither am I for that fact."_

"_Even if it was true, what if I don't agree to it?" I questioned him. _

_"You have to; try not to be angry at him. Anyway, you know about vampires now, we can't just let you go back home with all this new found knowledge, even if you don't believe us. Anyway would you really want to go back to cooking pizza all day long?"_

_How did he know? I really had been kidnapped by a group of stalkers. What he was saying was true though, I didn't want to go back to working with pizza for the rest of my life, but then I didn't want to stay here for the rest of my life either. I was caught up in my thoughts again, I didn't realise that Zane had stopped looking at my wound. _

"_Look I don't really believe what everyone has been telling me, it's not well realistic…" I said._

_Zane cut across me, "Just because you've grown up in a "realistic" world that has told you vampires don't exist doesn't mean they don't."_

"_But if I don't believe vampires exist, what makes you think anyone else will? Why can't I just go home?" I pleaded._

"_Alec needs you, whether you like it or not, I'm sorry, but it can't be helped." He replied._

_I stayed silent this time, getting angry again, being forced to stay here against my will. Someone will find me; they'll know I've gone missing. Won't they? _

_Zane got up and packed away the things he had been using, whatever they were. Maybe I could trust him, even if he and Alec were keeping me against my will. Zane went to leave but then hesitated and turned back again._

_"Like I said before, try not to be too hard on Alec. He only did what he thought was best. He really only has your best interests at heart."_

_He left. I thought over what he had said. How could he have my best interests at heart when he didn't even know me and keeping me here was definitely not in my best interests? I sighed and sat up on my bed. I inspected my wound, well, the bandage really, I couldn't see the wound. Doreen came again later with dinner. As she set down the food, something struck me that hadn't before. I hadn't any clothes, except what I was wearing. _

_"Doreen? Is it possible that I could have some clothes to wear?" At least if I decided I would escape I would have some clothes to wear. _

_"Certainly, I will get some brought up for you tomorrow if the masters permit it."_

_I took this as a possible yes. I thanked her as she left. _

_I ate dinner and it wasn't long before I fell to sleep again. _

_I woke up the following morning feeling more refreshed then I had in a long time. Zane arrived again to look at my wound. I asked him about the clothes I asked Doreen about. He said there would be some brought up around lunchtime. He finished looking at the wound just as Doreen came in with some breakfast. I quite liked Zane; even if he did think he was a vampire. I smiled at the thought. _

_"Zane," I said before he had a chance to leave the room. He stopped and turned around. "I don't suppose you can stay with me a while longer, I get bored when I'm alone." _

_He gave a small smiled, but then frowned._

_"I can't I'm sorry I have business to attend to. You like to read though right?"_

_I nod. _

_"I'll get someone to bring some books up for you with the clothes." _

_I sighed and turned away, lying back down. I thanked Doreen for the food even though I wasn't hungry enough to eat even though it did smell nice. _

_Lunchtime came around soon enough and with it came clothes and food. I still hadn't eaten breakfast. Doreen said she'd leave it as well as the lunch she had just brought up incase I got hungry later. I questioned her about the manor where we were staying although she was reluctant to say much, giving minimal answers as possible. I thanked her as she left but I forgot to ask about the books that weren't brought up which were apparently coming later. I heard the lock click as she closed the door. _

"_A prisoner" I mumbled, maybe it would be harder to escape than I thought, if I was going to that was. I slowly walked to the wardrobe and pulled out fresh underwear, jeans, and a strappy plain black top. It was good to wear clothes again, although I struggled to bend down to put the jeans on. I walked to the balcony door and opened the doors, finding it much easier then I could before, and sat on one of the chairs that were tucked under a table. It was very warm outside even though it looked frosty. I just sat there for what seemed like hours thinking and looking at the scenery. The door to the room opened and I turned around and saw Alec walking towards me. He held up his hand and shook it to show he held a couple of books. I half smiled at him, grateful, but still angry with him and then turned back around again to face the scenery. _

_"Thanks," I mumbled. _

_He walked onto the balcony and sat on the chair opposite mine, placing the books on the table. I didn't look at him, choosing to look at the forest. There was silence for a while as we both studied the scenery. Alec finally spoke up._

_"You should really eat something, you need your strength," he said glancing at my full plates inside the room. _

_"I could say the same to you, but I'm afraid that might lead me to a disadvantage." I retorted, thinking about him being a supposed 'vampire'. _

_He chuckled and smiled at me. "I'm sorry if I was a bit forward yesterday, I didn't mean to scare you...."_

_I cut him off before he could carry on. "Look, I've been talking to Zane and I think he's right, sort of. I am grateful that you saved my life and I would do anything to repay you for it, but I just don't believe what you claim to be, how do I know you're not crazy?" I don't know where this courage came from; you'd think I'd be scared to accuse my kidnapper of being crazy. _

_He smiled at me, which I took as a good sign. Any apprehension I had of his response, disappeared. _

"_You can have proof that I'm a vampire, but not now, I think you need more time to recover from your… incident. As for repayment, you know what I want, for you to stay here, I need you." He replied. _

_I sighed. Maybe if I agreed, he wouldn't lock me in this room, and I'd have an easier chance to escape. However, my decision wasn't entirely based on escaping; I did feel I needed to repay him, even if I was angry with him._

"_Fine," I mumbled. _

_He seemed taken aback by my response._

_"But this doesn't mean I'm any less angry with you, I can't help that," I added._

_He smiled. "You're ok with being my link?"_

_I still wasn't sure what he meant by 'link', "Sure, whatever," I replied, sighing. _

_His smile widened. "I have to go now," he stood up and left without saying anything more._

"_And hell begins," I mumbled, sighing again._

"_It won't be that bad," I heard Alec shout back._

_I frowned, how did he hear that? I barely heard myself say that. I turned around to see where he was, only to see the door closing and hearing the lock click._


	4. Chapter 4

_I wondered back into the bedroom, hours after Alec had left; it had gotten dark, chilly as well. I sat on the bed and crossed my legs, leaning against the headboard. I picked up a book, turned on a nearby lamp, and started to read. I got half way through when a familiar knock came on the door. It was Doreen with dinner, Zane to look at my wound and Alec, I didn't know why here was here. _

_"I wait almost all day for someone to talk to, and then I get three at once." I said closing the book. _

_Zane and Alec smiled; Doreen on the other hand looked worried and nervous. _

_"You're dinner ma'am. I'll take away your breakfast and lunch if you're not going to eat them," she said. _

_Alec frowned. _

_"Thanks," I said to Doreen, "but please call me Darcy," she gave a nervous glance to Alec but then left without saying any more. _

_Zane knelt beside me and lifted my top up slightly to look at the wound. _

_There was silence. _

_"So..." I said. "Vampires, what's difference between real life ones and the ones from myths?" I asked, playing them at their own game, unless they really were vampires. Yeah right. _

_Alec sat in the chair opposite the bed facing me, watching Zane study my wound._

_No one answered my question and everything remained quiet. Then Zane finished and stood up._

_"Eat." he said before he left the room. _

_Alec remained, staring at me intently. I quickly pulled my top down. I sat up, picked the book back up, and started to read again. I could still feel Alec looking at me and I couldn't concentrate. _

_"What?" I questioned him as I closed the book. _

_He didn't answer my question but answered the one I asked previously._

_"The difference is that the real ones are much more charismatic."_

_I frowned, "That wasn't really the answer I was looking for," I crawled onto my knees placing the book onto the nearest table. "How old are you?"_

_"203."_

_"Is that young...or old?" I asked. _

_"Do I look old to you?"_

_No he didn't, he looked my age, if not a bit older. _

_"Do you have special powers like, I don't know, super strength, or intensified hearing or..."_

_"Slow down Darcy," he said. "Yes we do have more strength then humans but amongst vampires it differs with how much, it's the same with speed and we do have better hearing. But we don't have powers like teleportation or invisibility," he laughed as if imagining what he could do with those powers. "We can heal as well, very quickly, I'll show you if you want," he said pulling out a pocketknife. He was about to cut his arm when I shouted._

_"No! That's ok," if he had convinced himself he was a vampire then I really didn't want to watch his arm bleed and the fact that he had a knife in his pocket worried me. _

_He smiled at me and placed the knife back in his pocket, which I silently let out a sigh of relief to. _

_"Are you dead?" I asked carrying on the conversation. _

_He chuckled again. It was a nice chuckle, innocent and sweet, but I didn't think about it long, wondering what his reply would be._

_"No. I was turned into a vampire when I was slightly older then you. You don't have to die to become a vampire, in fact you have to be alive."_

_"How are you...you know "turned"?" I asked._

_"I'd rather not say, not now anyway. It's not bad or horrible; it's just not something I like to talk about."_

_I was silent for a while, thinking about what he had said, he had his story covered well, and I wondered if I asked Zane the same things, if he would give me the same answers. Then a thought occurred to me, Alec said he needed me to drink from….."How often do you need to drink?"_

_"Not often, once a week, sometimes twice but a vampire can last up to two months without drinking anything, if he wants to."_

_"Do you drink from animals as well as humans?"_

_"No," he smiled. "Their blood is too sour."_

_I flinched at blood; I didn't like the thought of drinking blood. _

_"Can you drink from other vampires?" I asked._

_"Yes, but you don't get as much energy from it like from humans."_

_I flinched again but carried on asked questions, "Do you kill when you drink?" I didn't like the thought of killing either._

_"Never," He looked away when he said this and I couldn't help feeling…_

_"You're lying." I stated before I could stop myself._

_He sighed. "I have once or twice, but it was a mistake, I hadn't drunk for a while, and I regret it profoundly. I would never let it happen to you, I promise."_

_I flinched again. Even if he did save my life, I wasn't looking forward to what he had planned with my blood, well that's if he was telling the truth. It's strange because the longer I listened to him the more I began to believe him, which I kept telling myself was stupid, but it just seemed like there was truth behind his words, or was he just a convincing liar? I really didn't know; I was confusing myself the more I thought about it. _

_"Are all vampires the same then, do they all not kill?" I asked. _

_He sighed and glanced over at my still full dinner. _

_"I'm not answering another question until you eat something."_

_"I'm not hungry."_

_"No more answers then," he answered as he got up and started to leave. _

_"Wait," I said. I picked up a piece of bread and started to nibble it. _

_"You're going to have to eat more than that." He said, turning back around. _

_I sighed and started to eat the contents of the plate. _

"_So…the answer?" I asked._

_He sighed again, "No Darcy, not all vampires are the same, some do…kill."_

_I didn't know what to think of this, I stopped chewing for half a second; hopefully not long enough for Alec to notice. I then decided to forget about it, I mean, all this, it was made up, or at least just a story to scare the kidnapped, wasn't it? I carried on asking him questions as I ate, just to see if there were any flaws in his answers, I even sometimes asked the same questions again to see if his answers changed, they never did._

_"So many questions," he finally said cutting me off mid sentence. There are other nights, it's late now." he said getting up. _

_I looked out of the window and saw he was right. It was pitch black and there were many stars in the sky._

_Alec got up, "Night," he said leaving me sitting on the bed with an empty plate. He closed the door behind him and I heard the lock click. I changed into the nightdress again and collapsed onto the bed pulling the covers over me, thinking about the vampire tales until I fell into a deep sleep. Surprisingly my dreams were full of vampires. _


	5. Chapter 5

_I woke up, turned over in bed, opened my eyes, and jumped. Alec was sitting on the __chaise longue__ watching me. I frowned and sat up. _

_"Us talking last night doesn't change anything, I'm still angry with you."_

_"I know," he replied. _

_I frowned at his relaxed attitude. I got up out of bed and walked into the bathroom, which was behind a door opposite the bed. I made sure the door was locked before I stripped and took a shower. I had used the shower a couple of times before, but I tried to avoid it because it hurt my wound as I had to lift my arms up a lot to wash my hair. It was getting better now, which was good. The shower was nice and warm and I almost fell asleep again, but I didn't. I picked up a white towel and wrapped it around my body. I walked out of the bathroom and almost dropped the towel in shock as I saw Alec still sitting in the chair, a small smile forming on his lips. I thought he would have left by now, from boredom of waiting for me to get out of the bathroom. I frowned and opened the wardrobe doors to hide my blushed cheeks and to find some clothes to wear. I felt very uncomfortable in front of him, I didn't know him, he could try anything, my heart started racing as I tried to find something to wear quickly. I pulled out a dress and turned around to go back into the bathroom to change but I bumped into Alec who had moved quickly and silently across the room. I gave a small exclaim of surprise as I dropped the dress, luckily still clinging onto my towel, just. _

_"Black again," he said._

_I looked at him confused._

_"You wore black yesterday," he replied._

_I realised he was right._

_"It reflects my mood," I said before walking back into the bathroom to get dressed, dodging Alec on the way. It was when I locked the door behind me that I realised I'd forgotten underwear. I went to open the door and found Alec on the other side holding out a black matching underwear set for me. It was pretty, if not a bit too lacy and sexy for me, but I took it anyway too embarrassed to look for something else._

_"Thanks," I mumbled. _

_He smiled as I turned back into the bathroom. Pervert. _

_I came back out of the bathroom a while later, towel drying my hair. Alec was still there. _

_"Aren't you bored?" I asked him._

_"No, why?" He replied._

_I sighed. "No reason."_

_I grabbed the book I had started reading the day before, took it out to the balcony, and carried on reading it. Alec followed me and sat on the same chair as he had the day before. I felt him looking at me again. It bothered me. I felt very self-conscious. I slammed the book shut. _

_"Why do you keep staring at me?" I half shouted, letting the annoyance show in my voice. _

_He ignored my question and just carried on looking at me._

_I sighed, deciding to indulge in his fantasy world again, "So how many vampires are there?" _

_"There are three vampire covens," he began, happy to talk about, 'his world' again, "The Valik Coven, that's ours. It's ruled by Maveric at the moment but he's passing it to me in couple of months because his health is very poor. There's also the Latorex Coven, they're led by Dantel, a friend of mine and then lastly there's the Morvan Coven, lead by Lex." He practically spat this name out. "Each coven has its own rules and territories with strict trespassing consequences." I think he was hinting at death. "The Latorex are ok, they have similar rules and codes to us, but the Morvan..." He drifted off, worry clearly plastered on his face. _

_"What?" I practically whispered not sure if I wanted to know the answer; ok by now I was quite into the story. _

_"I said I didn't kill when I fed, and neither does any of this coven. The Latorex Coven doesn't really, they have been known too, but it's not common. And then there's the Morvan. Lex, he's greedy and has persuaded his coven to think that they need to kill every time they feed. He's always tried to start a war in all his years as Morvan's leader, bloodthirsty right to the bone," he looked angry, for the first time I really believed what he was saying, there just seemed to be so much truth, depth, and emotion in his story that it might have been true and it made me shiver. Maybe he really wasn't going to kill me, unless it was an act, but it annoyed me that he was so convincing about the whole thing. _

_"How long has Lex been in charge of the Morvan?" I asked curious this time, rather than just playing along._

_"100 years, this Tuesday" He said, giving me a much more precise answer then I was looking for. _

_"Was the Morvan coven like this before Lex was in charge?"_

_"They were, but they weren't this bad."_

_"How old is Lex?"_

_"350"_

_"So he's quite young?"_

_"Yes, unfortunately his reign will probably last for another 500 years, unless something fortunate happens, but his blood lust is getting worse, he'll do whatever it takes to stay in power, especially, he's planning something, something big."_

_His tone and the way he looked scared me, but I smiled; he really did hate this vampire. Wait, did I just think the word vampire in a way as if they were true? I closed my eyes contemplating, I shouldn't let myself believe so easily that there are vampires; it could still be a trick. _

_"How old is … Maveric, was it?"_

_"Yes, he's 675. He's too young to pass the coven rule over really, but he's in too ill to carry on."_

_"What's wrong with him?"_

_"He's just aged very quickly, the stress of leading a coven was too much for him and then there was a war not long ago, well 140 years ago, I suppose that's long for you."_

_"You think." I said sarcastically._

_He smiled._

_"So where does Zane stand in this coven?" I asked._

"_The coven is broken up into a hierarchy. At the bottom, is just the common vampire, they belong to a coven but they don't have any part to do with coven decisions, laws excreta, just like you really, in your society, you work for you community, then you go home and do your own thing."_

_Great so I'm the common vampire. Alec carried on, breaking my stray thought._

"_Then there's the functioning vampire, they're the vampires who are basically like your community support officers, they help run the coven but again, don't really have any say in laws. Err like your manager in the restaurant for example. Next up is the token vampires, this is where Zane stands, they have more authority within the coven, more of a say in decisions. Then there's the bidding vampires, which is where I am, they have the highest ranking in the coven, other than the leader, they have power over everyone, follow direct orders from the leader, govern laws and decisions of the clan excreta," he smiled as if proud of himself. _

_I rolled my eyes. "So what about the staff? Doreen, I mean, where is she in this hierarchy?"_

"_She is just staff in this household, ordinary humans work here, just help serving us. The manor we're in is mine, usually only bidding vampire households have staff; otherwise we don't really have need for humans."_

"_Where do you get your staff?" I asked frowning. _

"_Most lead lives they hate, some are dying and need Zane's expertise in healing for example."_

"_What if they don't want to be here though, what if they want to go back home?"_

_Alec sighed. "Well they can't, once they're here, they have to stay here."_

_I frowned getting angry, and Alec could tell. "Don't get angry again, what is, is. It's always been like this, and most of the staff here never complain."_

_I was silent for a while, waiting for the anger to pass, I still had more questions to ask. Alec waited patiently. _

"_How do you get to the top of the hierarchy?" I asked after a while. _

"_People get to the top in different ways, Morvan knew me when I was first turned and luckily liked me," he smiled as he reminisced in an old memory. "On the other hand, many vampires have to make themselves known to those further up the scale, you know, helping the coven a great deal and so on." _

_"So how is it that you are taking over the coven?"_

_"Choice of a leader has nothing to do with age or blood heritage, it's who the previous leader chooses who wants to lead his coven preceding him."_

_"So why did he choose you then?" Did that sound rude? Oh well. _

_He smiled. "Maveric and I have always been friends. I've looked up to him and tried to follow in his footsteps ever since I was young...ger."_

_It was my turn to smile. _

_"Finally a smile," he commented._

_"Well there's not much to smile about when you're abducted and then left to rot in a room," I said, not trying to start an argument, just stating the facts. _

_"It's for your own protection, just until your wound is healed. There are probably some hungry vampires on the other side of that door that can smell the blood from that wound."_

_I shivered._

_"I'm only joking Darcy. It's only me and Zane here unless we have guests I don't know about."_

_"So where is the rest of the coven?" I must have looked really stupid too him. _

_He smiled again. "We don't have to live in the same building, Zane is only staying here because he's looking after you, and we're friends. Our territory is quite large so there are vampires everywhere outside that front door."_

_I shivered again. _

_"They can choose how they want to live, some in houses, others prefer the wilderness."_

"_So where exactly do I come into all this?" I asked slightly apprehensive._

_He took his time to reply, obviously thinking of how to say whatever he was going to say so as not to offend me or cause an argument like last time._

"_Well, every vampire leader has to have a link. This is a human they drink from. Leaders of all covens usually have them because they're often busy and don't have time to hunt." He paused examining my expression, which I'm pretty sure was blank, I hoped anyway._

"_How often?" I asked._

"_It depends, once a week, maybe more, maybe less," he replied looking uneasy._

_I stayed quiet wondering what it would be like to have blood sucked out of you. I decided to change the subject._

_"So where are we exactly?" _

_Before Alec had a chance to answer however, Doreen came in with a tray of food. She brought it out to the table and placed it front of me. _

_"Your breakfast," she said to me, and then turned to Alec, "Master Alec," she said curtsying and left quickly. _

_I ignored the food and looked at Alec waiting for his answer. He was looking at me again, staring intently. I frowned. _

_"Aren't you going to eat that?" He asked me. _

_"I'm not hungry," and I wasn't._

_"Why have you lost your appetite all of a sudden?" He looked concerned. "Or do you just not like the food. I made sure they wouldn't send up anything you didn't like." _

_I looked quizzical at him, but he didn't seem to notice. "It's not that," I replied. "I told you I'm just not hungry."_

_There was silence. I got slightly annoyed; he still hadn't answered my question._

_"Where are we?" I asked again. _

_He smiled a mischievous smile and I knew what was coming, "I'm not going to answer you until you eat something."_

_I sighed. "Why don't you eat it?"_

_"It doesn't taste very nice."_

_I frowned. "Toast isn't disgusting. It's the best breakfast item."_

_"According to you," he smiled again. _

_Alec wasn't that bad once you got to know him but I think I would have liked him more if he hadn't kidnapped me. _

_"Where are we?" I persisted. _

_"If you love toast so much why aren't you eating it?" He changed the subject._

_"I told you twice already, I'm not hungry."_

_"You know if you don't eat you won't get strength and without strength your wound will take longer to heal and that means that you won't be able to leave this room for a long time."_

_I frowned and picked up the toast. Did I say how annoying he could be? Because he could. He got up when I was halfway through eating the toast. _

_"I have to leave," he said. _

_"That's not fair, you still haven't answered my question," I said standing up too, dropping my toast back on the plate. _

_"Later," was all he said as he started to walk to the door. _

_I followed him hoping I could escape the room. He stopped to open the door and I stood behind him waiting for it to open. Before I knew it, he was already gone and I could hear the click of the lock. I frowned. _

_It scared me that I was starting to like Alec now, which annoyed me as well because I was starting to like the person who kidnapped me. But what scared me even more was the fact that I was actually starting to believe that he was a vampire._


	6. Chapter 6

_Doreen came and went with another tray of food later in the day which I didn't eat and there was no one there to force me that time. The sun was warm today, quite hot actually. By noon it was roasting so I had gone indoors to cool off for a while. I had already finished the book I was reading so I had started a second one. There was a knock and the door and I looked up, that was when I realised it was already getting dark. Zane came in before I could answer and I heard the family click of the lock. _

_"Zane," I said as he came in. _

_"Mmm," he replied. _

_"Where are we? In the world I mean."_

_He chuckled slightly. _

_"What?" I asked._

_"Don't you think you should eat something first?"_

_I frowned. _

_"Do you really want to know?"_

_"Why do you think I keep asking?"_

_He smiled. "We're somewhere humans don't know about, but close enough to them so we can satisfy our appetites."_

_"What kind of an answer is that, it sounds like a riddle."_

_He was still smiling, "It's not a riddle. This land doesn't have a name; it's just land roaming with vampires."_

_"What country are we close to then?" I asked eager to have knowledge of some global positioning._

_He laughed slightly again. "No signs of infection yet, I think you're going to be ok," he said getting up and ignoring my question. _

_When he left I changed into jeans and a t-shirt because it was getting cold, I then sat back on the bed to carry on reading, my legs outstretched and my back leaning against the headboard. _

_Doreen came in with dinner a bit later, leaving the food from lunch as well. She didn't say anything and neither did I, I just carried on reading. On the way out she opened the door and walked into Alec. I heard the collision and looked up. Doreen was blushing bright red and I smiled at her embarrassment. _

_"Sorry master Alec, I di..di…didn't see you," she stammered and then quickly rushed passed him out of the room. _

"_Why is she so scared of you? Does all your staff act like that?" I asked him as he closed the door behind him. _

_Alec smiled, "It's because they know I'm a vampire, I've never hurt the staff or drank from them, they are just generally scared, they probably have their conspiracy theories."_

"_Where do they stay?" _

"_A few levels down, don't worry, their rooms are large, they eat well, paid well, bla bla bla," his smile grew, then he frowned as he saw my full lunch and dinner plates but he didn't say anything this time, which surprised me. _

_I looked back down at my book and carried on reading. I heard him walking slowly towards me but I didn't look up. I wasn't concentrating on the book but on what he was doing. He must have known because he smirked. I looked up at him. _

_"So, we're in the middle of nowhere then." _

_The smirk was removed from his face, as he realised that Zane had told me where we were, his plan didn't go how he had wanted it to; bribery doesn't always work. He sat on the edge of the bed with his back to me. I put my book down on the table next to the bed._

_He stayed silent. He was acting different, was he ok? I hesitated and then decided to crawl over to the edge of the bed where he was sitting. I hugged my knees to my chest on the edge instead of putting my feet on the floor like Alec. _

_"Are you ok?" I asked, looking at him, he was looking at the floor. _

_He struggled to speak. "You've cut yourself."_

_I scrunched my face up in confusion. I studied myself and found a small paper cut on my finger where I had turned the page of the book I was reading. I hadn't even noticed. Alec was facing me now. He slowly reached out and took my finger. I was shocked and didn't know what he was doing, so I just let him. He pulled my finger to his mouth and sucked the blood away looking into my eyes as he did so. I shivered. I must have looked horrified. My foot suddenly slipped from off the bed and my body jerked forward. My finger came out of his mouth sharply. It scratched something sharp, which I'm guessing was his tooth. I regained my balance and looked at my finger, which was now bleeding twice as much as it had before. Luckily the scratch wasn't deep._

_"I'm sorry. I haven't …. drank for a while; I didn't think you'd be bleeding when I arrived." He disappeared to the bathroom and reappeared with a tissue. _

_I stayed silent, shocked, I think he really was a vampire, every time I saw him, something confirmed it. _

_"I wouldn't have hurt you," he said sitting back down next to me hesitantly incase I didn't want him to. _

_I looked up from nursing my wound and sighed, "It's ok."_

_He relaxed his muscles slightly. "I really wouldn't hurt you, you know."_

_"So you keep saying. But it's ok, really."_

_We were silent for a while._

_I took the tissue off of my finger when the bleeding stopped and slowly lent back on the bed so I was parallel to my pillows, making sure I wouldn't hurt my wound, which was much better now. I watched Alec even though I could only see him from behind. I closed my eyes, tired from the heat of the sun. I woke slightly when something cold touched my face; I opened my eyes slightly to find nothing there, it was pitch black and I was under the covers of the bed. I closed my eyes and tiredness tugged on my eyelids and I fell back to sleep. _


	7. Chapter 7

_I woke up to knocking on my door again. I didn't answer, I was too sleepy. I heard the click of the lock and someone walked in. I slowly opened my eyes. It was Zane, but he didn't seem his normal self, he looked troubled, his brow was furrowed in deep thought. I stretched and took off the cover so he could look at my wound, I then realised that I was in my underwear. I couldn't even remember getting undressed the night before. And then I remembered that I had fallen asleep while Alec was in the room. I cringed hoping Alec didn't undress me. _

_Zane knelt down on the floor next to the bed to look at the wound._

_"Are you ok Zane?" I asked. He didn't reply._

_"Zane?" I repeated his name. _

_Zane looked up at me as if noticing I was there for the first time. _

_"Hmm, uh nothing. I'm going to put a fresh bandage on this morning but I'm going to come back at lunch and take it off and see how you do without one." He mumbled still deep in thought. _

_"Ok" I replied though I wasn't sure if he heard me. I let him work in silence sensing there was something wrong. _

_He left the room when he was finished just saying he'd be back later and left. I sighed and got up from my bed. I walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a knee length dress. I put it on, walked out to the balcony, and carried on reading my book. It was a nice day...as usual, just as hot as it was the day before, not that I was complaining, it was hot but the wind blew every now and then ruffling my already wavy hair and cooling me down. _

_Doreen came in not long after Zane had left with breakfast. She too looked worried. I got up, left the book on the balcony table, and walked into the room. _

_"Why does everyone look worried today?" I approached her._

_"I really don't think it's my place to say ma'am," she replied._

_I sighed knowing that I wasn't going to get an answer from her._

_Time went by and I had finished my second book. "Now what" I thought. But before I could think of anything to do there was a knock at the door._

_"Come in Zane," I shouted thinking it was Zane back to take the bandage off. But it wasn't Zane, it was Alec._

_"Oh," I exclaimed in surprise but also embarrassed because I had started to take my dress off so Zane could look at my wound. Alec smiled at me as I blushed and turned away. "Oh crap" I thought to myself. _

_"I came to tell you that we have guests coming later for dinner."_

_"Is that what everyone is so uptight about?"_

_At that moment there was a knock at the door and Zane walked in. _

_"Oh sorry," he said, "Darcy I'm here to take your bandage off, I'll come back later if you want."_

_"That's ok Zane, I was just telling Darcy about the guests." Alec said._

_Zane gave Alec a stern look. _

_"I'm just going to get undressed in the bathroom." I jump in at the conversation. "And don't look when I come out Alec." I too gave him a stern look. _

_I walked to the bathroom and undressed, taking the dress back out with me. I didn't leave until I made sure Alec was looking the other way. I laid down on the bed. Alec turned around and I frowned. I studied Alec, seeing him differently from when I first met him, he wasn't a crazed kidnapper anymore, I mean he was a kidnapper still but now a possible vampire as well. He was quite attractive though, probably the most attractive guy I'd ever seen. As soon as this thought crossed my mind Alec smiled and I thought it was a strange coincidence that he was smiling at the exact same moment that I was thinking he was attractive. Then a thought occurred to me, I had never asked him if vampires could read minds, terror washed through me. _

_"Can you read minds?" I asked looking at Alec, Zane turned to look at him as well. Alec's smile grew wider._

_"No, why, what are you thinking?" He replied._

_Relief spread through me, even though I couldn't be sure he was telling the truth. I ignored his question and asked one of my own. "Why are you smiling then?"_

_"Because," he paused as if deciding something and then spoke, "because you look so much nicer in your underwear then you do in your clothes."_

_My mouth opened agape and I blushed. It was a compliment but I couldn't help being annoyed, I frowned. _

_"Turn around pervert," I said, he didn't but he did go and sit on the __chaise longue__ where trays of food were piling up on the nearby table and where he didn't have as good as a view of me as he did before because Zane was blocking it. _

_Zane smiled and carried doing whatever he was to my wound. _

_"So what's so important about these guests?" I asked curious as I remembered what Alec and I were talking about before Zane came in. _

_Alec answered, "They're not just any guests Darcy. It's Lex; you know the leader of the Morvan coven, and his men."_

_"I thought they weren't allowed on your territory?" I asked._

_"They're not...without a reason," Zane replied. _

_"What's the reason?" I asked eagerly._

_"We can only guess. And the reason is you," Zane carried on. _

_"Why what's so important about me," I felt fear knowing that this couldn't be good. _

_"Haven't you told her?" Zane was looking concerned and was glaring at Alec now who had been quiet for some time and who still remained silent. "Alec" Zane said in a harsher tone. _

_Alec sighed, "Darcy, it's tradition for the other coven leaders to take blood from my link, just once, before the Placing, which is basically like a coronation."_

_Fear had now turned into pure terror, "But, but you said Lex likes to kill when he takes blood."_

_"That's why I won't let him, and anyway the Placing isn't for another couple of months so it would be unlikely he wants to take your blood now, it's probably just his excuse to get onto our territory." _

_It still didn't help ease my terror, "Ouch" I said as Zane just caught my sensitive skin. "Why is it tradition to take blood from another leaders' link, it doesn't make sense if the idea of having different covens is to keep separate from each other?"_

_It was Zane who answered this time, "Nobody knows for sure, it's a tradition that's gone back centuries but we think it's something to do with our ancestors' idea of trying to keep peace among the covens because then they are all linked in some way. Don't worry about it Darcy, you'll be alright" _

_There was silence for a while and then Zane stood up and moved to the door and said "ok we're done for now, I'll come back later to put a bandage back on so you don't catch your wound while you sleep." He smiled when he had finished talking as I was thinking about how kind he was. This really couldn't be another coincidence,_

_"Are you sure you can't read minds?" I asked wanting to be reassured._

_"No he said laughing, but I can read his," he nodded towards Alec before he opened the bedroom door._

_I looked over to Alec who was looking at me with a smile on his face. I frowned, grabbed my dress, and put it on. It was Alec's turn to frown. _

_"Are you coming?" Zane asked Alec, "We have things to prepare."_

_"Yeah, in a minute," he said standing up. Zane sighed and walked out of the room leaving the door open. I was tempted to walk out of the door but I knew I wouldn't have a chance with Alec's super speed. I sighed and got up off the bed and walked to the mirror that was opposite the bed to tie my hair back as it was starting to annoy me. I could feel Alec's eyes on me. _

_"Do you feel safe when you're around me?" he asked appearing in the mirror behind me. Hmm another myth that was wrong._

_"I suppose so, you did save my life," I replied. _

_He frowned, "You shouldn't trust people so easily" _

"_You didn't let me finish," I smiled, "It's hard to trust someone who's kidnapped you, even if they did save your life."_

"_Ok but look, just don't trust Lex; don't believe anything he says."_

_I turned around to look at him now that I had pulled my hair back; he was closer than I thought. I wanted to take a step back but I was already against the wall. I didn't reply to what he said, I couldn't, I felt overshadowed._

_"Do you like Zane?" He asked._

_"Sure," I said, "what's not to like."_

_"Do you really like Zane?" I could see what he was getting at now._

_"You mean do I fancy him, or even love him?" He frowned at this; I took his silence as a yes. "No I don't, I barely know him, and I just like him as a friend."_

_"Do you think you'll like him more than a friend in time?" he had many questions._

_"I can just see him as a good friend. Why do you want to know anyway?" Although I thought I already knew the answer. _

_"Do you like me, as a friend?" He carried on. _

_"I'm sorry, Master Alec, there's someone for you in the drawing room, a Miss Rosie Roswell."_

_Alec and I turned towards the maid who had just appeared in the open doorway, she blushed when she saw how close we were to each other. I looked back at Alec, his face looked confused at first, but then it was back to normal._

_"I'll be back later," he said to me before exiting the room, closing the door behind him. But where was the "click," the click of the lock that I always heard when someone left me alone in my room? I couldn't resist, I walked to the door and pushed down the handle. It was open. Temptation won over me as I quickly escaped my prison and shut the door behind me. The hallway I had just walked into was magnificent, paintings hung in every space available on the wall, all different shapes and sizes, the hallway was quite bright. I turned left and walked, it was empty, no one in sight. I didn't walk far before I reached the end of the hallway and arrived at a banister that overlooked the entrance to the manor. It was gigantic; I had never seen anything like it in my life. The entrance was empty too, so I decided to chance it and walk down the stairway to my right that curved slightly as it got to the bottom. As I got near to the ground floor I heard voices coming from a room where the door was ajar. It sounded like Alec and a girl (I'm guessing was Rosie). I know it's wrong to spy but I couldn't help myself when I heard what they were talking about,_

_"Where is she," Rosie shouted, how could I not hear her from the top of the stairs? I'm surprised Alec hadn't gone deaf. I quietly snuck closer to the room so I could hear Alec, who was not shouting,_

_"Where is who?" he replied calmly._

_"You know who! Your link, I know she's here, everyone's talking about her!" she seemed hysterical._

_"I'm not going to show you to her until you calm down."_

_There was silence for a short while before I heard Rosie's voice again this time a lot quieter. _

_"I thought I was going to be your link Alec." _

_"Rosie," Alec sighed, "We split up fifty years ago, I haven't spoken to you since what makes..." _

_Fifty years, this girl knows how to cling onto a guy; she must be a vampire too, unless she was really old, but by the sound of her voice she wasn't. I was so deep in my thoughts I hadn't realised that there was silence once again. Suddenly before I knew it I was swept from my feet and wind was rushing through my hair and making my eyes water, I closed them. When everything was still I opened them and I was back in my room, Alec was in front of me holding the top of my arms quite tightly. _

_"I thought I told you to stay in your room!" Alec growled at me, I had never seen anyone look so angry before, it scared me, his eyes were black and menacing and his teeth were barred so tightly I'm surprised they didn't crack. Ok this definitely wasn't human. _

_"I'm sorry, the door was unlocked I couldn't help myself, no one was around, do you know how bored I get in this room, it's all I've seen since I've been here," I babbled out the excuses scared about his angry reaction._

_"Darcy, I know it's hard to be locked up all the time but it's for your own safety, it's..." but Alec couldn't finish because he was cut off by who I was guessing was Rosie standing in the doorway leaning against the wall. We both turned to face her. _

_"Ha! Darcy, what kind of a name is that. How long has she been here for?! I bet you've kept this a secret for a while. Poor little human girl, needs protecting from the scary vampires! Ha!" she flicked her long blonde hair from out of her face. She was quite pretty. _

_Alec growled in his throat. _

_"Calm down Alec, I don't think she even likes you."_

_Alec stopped growling, I wanted to see his face, but he was standing in front of me facing Rosie. "Go home Rosie," He replied._

_"Aww have I hit a sensitive spot, serves you right, I should be your link, I'm the one that loves you, not her." _

_"I said go home!" Alec replied this time much more aggressively. At this Rosie turned around and left, her blonde hair swaying after her. _

_Alec turned back around to face me. His features had softened and his eyes were no longer black. _

_"What did she mean?" I asked _

_Alec looked at me confused._

_"I mean, when she said she should be your link, she loves you."_

_Understanding crossed Alec's face. _

_"Usually when a vampire chooses a link, they're in love...with each other. But not all the time." He quickly added on the end. _

_There was silence between us, I felt embarrassed, and I couldn't convince myself to look at him. Then Alec carried on. _

_"I was hoping that maybe someday you'd..." He cut off but I understood. I forced myself to look at him, his eyes, they were full of emotion, and he looked sad. _

_All I could do was reply with another question. "Why did you choose me? Why did you decide to save me that night?" I asked._

_"Look, Lex is coming soon, just stay here." he said. "Please just stay here, don't try to escape." With this, he turned around and left. _

_He sounded annoyed, I didn't blame him, I think I had upset him, but I couldn't help not having feelings for him. _

_I was left alone again, the wind blowing my hair as it came in through the open balcony doors. _


	8. Chapter 8

_I finished the third and final book that Alec had brought me the other day by the time Doreen came in with my dinner that day. She came and left without saying a word, taking the other full plates of food with her. My appetite had ceased to exist the past few days, I didn't know why, maybe it was stress from all this vampire business._

_I regretted finishing my last book so quick because now I had nothing to do. I changed into some pajamas that were a bit snug fitting and pulled a hoodie on over the top to keep warm. I ignored my dinner and went and sat outside in the fresh air just to watch the scenery. It was still windy outside but now it was dark as well. The wind sent a shiver down my spine every time my hair blew about. It was cold, but the sky was exceptionally pretty so I couldn't look at it behind glass. It was peaceful and relaxing. Hours went by it seemed and the sky got even darker than I thought it ever possibly could, the disappearance of the moon behind a cloud could have had something to do with it though. However the peace was disturbed when I heard shouting and snarling coming from behind the door to the bedroom. I walked into the bedroom to hear the argument a bit better. _

_"I have a right to see her Valik, unless you haven't realised its tradition and more importantly it's the rules," I heard someone growl behind the door. It was a horrible growl, low and menacing. If I wasn't mistaken I would assume it was Lex who was speaking. His voice described a terrible nature and history. _

_Another growl sounded from behind the door. It was Alec, "Not yet, Morvan, you know it's too early. What are you really up to? Did you accidently kill your, what is it now, fiftieth link and now you're after mine."_

_There was a thump against the door like someone was pushed against it, which they probably were. _

_Zane's voice then appeared. "Calm down, both of you. Morvan, it's too early to drink from her, you know it is."_

_"Shut up, you have no right to challenge my decision, low life, I still have a right to see her," Lex snarled back._

_Alec growled._

_I stepped away from the door that I had been edging closer to in anticipation. Although by walking backwards I couldn't see where I was going. I caught my foot on one of the legs of the bed and fell over. The was a loud bump._

_"Oww," I moaned. _

_There was silence from behind the door. I looked up at it, waiting to see what was going to happen. Nothing did. There was a crash down the hallway. My heart slowed down as I realised that Lex probably couldn't get in here. I closed the balcony doors just incase, not that glass would stop a vampire, but it made me feel safer. I curled up in bed in a small ball under the sheets and closed my eyes. I was scared, more scared then when I had woken up in a strangers home because now I had clarification that this man would most likely kill me. I must have fallen asleep because I awoke to my name being whispered and someone stroking my hair. I opened my eyes and turned over to see Alec. I flinched away from his hand._

_"Sorry," he said, no longer whispering. "Is your wound ok? Zane didn't put a bandage over it."_

_I felt my hip. It was still sore but it wasn't very painful anymore._

_"I don't think you'll need Doctor Zane anymore," he smiled._

_I sat up. "Does this mean I can get out of this room now?"_

_He frowned. "Maybe. Let me see the wound first."_

_I frowned and flinched as he moved his hand to my stomach. I moved away. _

_"Wait," I said stopping Alec from touching me._

_"What?" He asked. He sounded a bit impatient, but I ignored it. _

_"Lex…" I couldn't say any more, I hadn't even met the guy and I was already incredibly scared of him. Just to hear his voice scared me._

_"Hey," Alec reached over and hugged me. I let him, I needed a hug. "I told you I wouldn't let him near you. I'm sorry if you heard us arguing at the door. But it's ok now, he's gone," my eyes glossed over with tears. It was nice just to hug someone, comforting, even if they were freezing cold. _

_"Now," he said pulling away after what seemed a long time, "Let's see that wound." _

_I dried my eyes and pulled back the cover. I looked at him before I pulled my top up just so he could see the wound and nothing else. He leant over me to get a better look. I flinched as his cold hands touched my sensitive skin. _

_"You'll be fine tomorrow," he said._

_I smiled. _

_"I'll give you a tour if you want," he was lying quite close to me still from our hug, his arm around my neck. I felt a bit uncomfortable, but I liked the company. _

_I just smiled again, "If you want," I yawned._

_"You know why you're so tired don't you?"_

_I frowned. _

_"You need to eat, you're very weak."_

_"I told you I'm not hungry."_

_"I may not be human anymore, but I know not eating properly is not healthy."_

_"I can't eat when I'm not hungry," I replied._

_"I'll force you if I have to."_

_"Well I guess you're going to have to force me because I'm not eating when I'm not hungry."_

_He frowned._

_"Just don't force me now, I'm too tired."_

_He laughed, "I think you're missing the point Darcy," he moved and turned to grab something from the bedside table, the bed moving under us and squeaking slightly. He turned back to me holding a slice of bread. "Here, eat this at least."_

_"I can't."_

_"Darcy" He growled. _

_"Fine," I snatched it from him and sat up slightly so I could eat it without choking. _

_He moved his arm from behind me so he could sit up too. I finished the bread but he was already holding something else under my nose._

_"Just have this as well." _

_"No Alec, I ate your bread don't force me to eat anything else."_

_He sighed. "Darcy, you're not doing yourself any favours."_

_"I can't help it."_

_I leant back onto the bed, too tired to talk anymore and fell asleep within minutes. _


	9. Chapter 9

_I turned over stretching my arms out. My arms however didn't reach the bed. They met something very cold. I opened my eyes and jumped. My arms had hit Alec's bare chest. Why is he here? I moved back, being too close to him for my liking. _

_He opened his eyes and turned over. "Oh you're awake." _

_I was staring at him shocked. I had pushed myself up onto my hands while on my side. My head spun for a minute because I moved too quickly. _

_"What..." was all I could manage. _

_He smiled. "You fell asleep on me. I didn't want to move incase I woke you up." _

_I frowned. "You weren't half naked when I fell asleep...were you?"_

_He laughed. "No, I got hot during the night, so I took my shirt off."_

_"Well put it back on," I said throwing a pillow at him. "If you managed to take your shirt off I probably wasn't on you and you could have left."_

_He smiled. "I didn't want to leave you."_

_"I'm having a shower," I mumbled. I got up, realising my hoodie was still on. _

_I grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe and walked into the bathroom. _

_I had a shower and got dressed then walked back into the room now feeling clean, expecting to see Alec, but he had gone. I walked over to the mirror and began to brush my hair staring into the distance. As I was thinking about nothing in particular, a thought came to my mind. Alec said I could leave my room today. I jumped away from the mirror and sprung to the door. I pulled on the handle but it was locked still. I frowned and walked back to the mirror, not really looking at myself but as if trying to look through myself. I didn't know how long I had been like this, but Doreen came in with my breakfast and awoke me from my trance. _

_"Can I leave my room yet?" I approached her. _

_"Master Alec told me to keep the door locked until further notice," she answered me. _

_I frowned. He lied to me. She left the room and I walked to the balcony. I leant over the side seeing if there was a way down. There was no use, I could jump, but I'd probably break my neck. _

_"You're not planning on jumping are you?"_

_I jumped (well not literally, the voice scared me.) I turned around to face Alec. He looked concerned. _

_"Don't do that," I said scowling at him. "And I wasn't going to jump."_

_His face relaxed. "What were you doing then?"_

_"Looking for a way down, I'm bored here. You said I could walk around today, but the door was locked." I growled at him. _

_"Come on," he said smiling, taking my hand in his. _

_I frowned but followed him out of the room. We walked out of the room and turned right. _

_"Where do you want to go?" he asked me. _

_"Anywhere," I said happy now, but trying not to show it. _

_He took me around what I would call a manor. It was huge. Everywhere we went was empty. _

_"Do you have guests often?" I asked. He was still holding my hand, I felt a bit uncomfortable but I had a feeling he wouldn't let it go even if I asked him nicely. _

_"No, we only have business guests nowadays. We'd probably be getting more soon because of the Placing."_

_Alec took me to various rooms, they weren't very interesting, mainly spare bedrooms and living rooms. _

_"Where's yours and Zane's bedroom?" Not that I really needed to know, but I was curious. _

_"Not far from yours."_

_"Oh," was all I could reply. _

_He then let go of my hand and went to open a large door. _

_"This...." He said pushing the door open, "is the library." _

_I walked through the doors. It was huge; I had never seen so many books in my life. It was like the library from 'Beauty and the Beast'. _

_I turned around in circles, looking up; my mouth agape. I walked to one of the shelves and trailed my hand over the books as I walked down the rows. _

_I forgot Alec was with me, he made me slightly jump when he spoke. _

_"You can read any book you want, you can stay here and read or take them out of the library; it doesn't matter."_

_I stopped walking and turned to face him. He was leaning against a wall by the doorway, his hands in his pockets. _

_"Do you read?" I asked him. _

_"Not really, I'm too busy," he replied._

_"Oh. Does Zane read?"_

_He frowned, "No."_

_"Why do you have so many books if you don't read?"_

_"The servants are free to use it and guests like to as well," he replied. _

_"Is this the last room in the house?" _

_"Only the garden left. Come on."_

_I looked back at the books wanting to stay. _

_Alec must have guessed what I was thinking. "You can come back later." He held out his hand. _

_I walked towards him but didn't take his hand. He rolled his eyes and pushed himself up off the wall and walked out, me following him. We walked for a few meters to a large French door. He opened it. It was the same scene I had seen from the balcony. I looked up at the building trying to find it. There were too many to know which one was mine. I hadn't realised I had stopped walking, when I looked back down from the building, Alec was already far ahead of me. I ran to keep up with him. _

_"Hey, wait," I said frowning coming to a stop as I got close to him._

_He stopped and turned around smiling. _

_"Where are we going?" _

_We were veering to the right around the house where my view from the balcony was restricted. Alec didn't answer me._

_I decided to ask something else. "Why do you have to live in such a big house if there is usually only you?"_

_"I like to have space," he replied. I was going to smile but we had just walked into a beautiful garden. I don't really have much interest in gardens but this was lovely. There were high hedges bordering the garden we had just walked into. A water fountain was straight ahead with a stunning sculpture in the middle. Countless numbers of flowers were growing. There was a gravel walk bordered by the high hedges going past the fountain. I couldn't resist walking down the path and passing the fountain. I could hear Alec following behind me, the gravel crunching under his feet. The sun's rays were shining down through the pathway lighting it up, making it look like something from a fairytale. _

_"Do you spend much time out here?" I asked Alec still walking forward. _

_"I used to, but I've been very busy, with the Placing." _

_I thought it was a shame that the garden could never be appreciated. I could feel Alec watching me but I didn't want to find out for sure so I carried on walking. The path went on for a while until we arrived at the fountain again. We had gone in a circle. I didn't see the other path when we entered the row of hedges. I didn't mind that we had gone in a circle; it was a nice walk, full of beautiful flowers and shrubs. I sat on the fountain's edge watching the water splash as it landed onto of the water below it. I felt Alec slide onto the side next to me. Too close in fact. He was always too close to me, it bothered me quite a lot. I turned to face him to move back a little but when I saw his eyes, it made me gasp, they were incredibly beautiful, and I hated to admit it. I stared at him feeling lost in his gaze, I had never really looked in his eyes before, just glancing at them. He cupped his hand around the right side of my face. I didn't know what to do, I felt uncomfortable so I closed my eyes. His touch was nice, cooling my skin from the hot rays of the sun. The wind suddenly blew through my hair, tangling it and making me shiver. I opened my eyes. Alec's face was very close to mine. I turned my head to the left, facing the fountain, making him pull away from me. I saw him frown out of the corner of my eye, which made me smile a little. Alec turned his head in the opposite direction, looking at the hedges instead of the fountain. _

_I titled my head back, looking at the sky, breathing a sigh of relief as he moved away from me. I leant back wanting some support for my back. Unfortunately there wasn't something to lean against, in my relief of Alec moving away I had forgotten I was sitting by a fountain. I fell back trying to grab onto something, but nothing was close by, now I was annoyed Alec had moved away. I screamed as I hit the water. It was freezing cold. Water rushed up my nostrils as I submerged into the fountain. My whole body went under the water; I wasn't expecting the fountain to be this deep. Before I had a chance to begin to start to run out of oxygen I was pulled roughly out of the water by a blurred face that I could see above the surface. I gasped as air hit my face. It wasn't warm outside anymore, the wind was blowing against my wet skin making me even colder. I coughed trying to get the water out of my nostrils and throat, gasping heavily. Alec sat me back down on the fountain edge and had me facing him, holding my shoulders, he was frowning with concern. _

_"Are you ok?" _

_Unable to speak I just nodded. _

_"Come on; let's get you inside before you freeze," he mumbled. I followed him, trying to avoid the wind, which didn't work. Once we were inside, Alec told me to wait by the door while he went to get a towel. He was only gone for a few seconds, probably using his super speed. He wrapped the towel around me while my teeth chattered. I didn't know what to say to him, I felt embarrassed about what had just happened. _

_"You need to change into some dry clothes," he said steering me towards what I was guessing was the bedroom I was staying in. He took me up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. He opened a door, which happened to be my room. I walked over to the wardrobe. _

_"Don't worry I'll get you something to wear, just go and dry off in the bathroom and I'll pass you clothes through when you ask."_

_I just nodded and walked to the bathroom hanging my head in shame. What and idiot I thought to myself, why did I have to fall in the fountain. I took my clothes off and threw them in the bath to stop the floor getting wet. I towel dried myself and squeezed as much water as I could from my hair. I wrapped the towel around myself and then opened the door to get my clothes from Alec. He was waiting outside and handed them to me without even looking. I got dressed. I left the bathroom seeing Alec in the __chaise longue__. I walked to the mirror and brushed my hair. I couldn't look at Alec, every time I did guilt flooded through me, I could only guess that he wanted to kiss me by the fountain but I couldn't be sure. I felt so bad, I'd hurt his feelings, which I didn't mean to, I just couldn't help not feeling the same way. I walked over to the other chair in the room, the one opposite the bed, when I had finished brushing my hair and sat down, staring into the distance. It was quiet between the two of us. He got up after a while. I watched him. He looked sad, which made me feel bad myself. He left the room without saying anything. I heard the lock click in the door. I sighed and went to lie on the bed. I eventually fell asleep, a few tears rolling down my face as I cried silently. _


	10. Chapter 10

_I woke up the following morning, showered and dressed. I remembered the events of the previous day and a wave of guilt hit me again, I tried to push it out of my mind. Doreen came in with breakfast and left, she didn't lock the door behind her. I took the opportunity to escape to the library, leaving my breakfast behind. I picked a random book out and hid myself in a corner and started to read, leaving reality behind. _

_I must have been reading for a while before the sun appeared shining through the huge window that was in the library. I decided to go outside and read, it looked nice and warm. I avoided the fountain and went down the gravel path to where I had seen a bench the day before. I carried on reading. I was too engrossed in the book I didn't even hear someone approach._

_"There you are Darcy." I looked up to see Doreen. "I've been looking for you most of the day. Do you want lunch?"_

_I shook my head. I couldn't speak, I didn't want to. _

_She curtsied and then left. It was starting to get dark now, but light enough for me to carry on reading. It wasn't too cold yet, I could last at least one more chapter. I head a shuffle of gravel. _

_"No, I don't want dinner either Doreen." I assumed it was Doreen, I didn't even look up. _

_"Do I look like a little human maid to you?" I heard a callous voice say. _

_I looked up. It wasn't Doreen, and it wasn't Zane or Alec either. He said "human" which meant he wasn't one himself. This was a vampire and not a friendly one by the looks of it. He stood not far from me. He had yellow teeth and a pair of matching eyes. His skin, a deathly pale contrasted with his dark black hair. He smiled a sickly smile. I immediately sensed I was in a danger. I stood up, too fast for his liking apparently. He ran up to me. Making sure there was no way I could escape. _

_"So this is Valik's link." I dropped my book on the floor. This wasn't any vampire, I realised as adrenaline started pumping through my body, this was Lex. "A bit of a poor choice if you ask me. Sure you look cute but you don't look like you have much of a personality." I would have been offended if I wasn't so scared._

_"Oh you poor little dear, you're incredibly weak, even for a human, no challenge for me at all I'm afraid. Let's see here." He started to circle me, studying me closely. I was too scared to move, too scared to even breathe. He gradually got closer to me like a lion would when teasing its prey. I didn't like this, my life was in danger, and I couldn't do anything but stand still. He stopped behind me; I could feel his breath blowing my hair as he breathed. He wrapped his hands around me and touched my wrists lightly which made me shiver. _

_"The wrists," he whispered to me, "one of the most lethal places for humans to be hurt."_

_He drew himself closer to me, "Or maybe the neck," he curved his head around my neck, his lips almost touching my skin. _

_I didn't know what he was doing or what he was talking about, but it didn't sound good. I was petrified, not able to move; it was as if I was paralysed. He suddenly stopped talking and pulled himself away. Sniffing the air._

_"Hmm, is that fresh blood I smell? Well not fresh, I'd say one, maybe two months old. Let me see..."_

_He went to touch my stomach; I immediately stepped forward away from him, my body suddenly responding to my head telling it to move. I turned to run but I found I couldn't go anywhere. I looked back to see Lex had a hold of my wrist. He pulled me back and then pushed me against a nearby hedge, pinning me there. My wrist throbbed, that would bruise, if I lived long enough for it to. _

_"Why are you in a hurry to go?" He asked too close to me for my liking. _

_He pulled up my top so he had a clear view of my wound, or what was left from it because it had healed pretty well. I shivered from the exposure. _

_"Ahh, there it is." He said glancing at the wound. "The handiwork of one of my men, no wonder he couldn't resist your blood, so sweet. Hmm healed wounds always do have a way of making the blood around it taste sweeter ..."_

_"It's a bite?" The words came out before I had a chance to stop myself, I had cut across him, he looked angry, but this then disappeared._

_"You know who I am, I see it in your eyes, and you still dare to talk to me. Maybe you do have personality after all." He trailed off as if in thought, I remained quiet. He then started talking again. "Of course it's a bite, what else would it be?" He paused and then realised something. "Your vampire didn't tell you did he?" Craftiness grew in his eyes._

_"That my dear is a bite attack. Hmm..." He paused as if having a flashback. "You can't trust the Valik, gem, you're much better off coming with me."_

_Horror drew up within me, I was too scared to answer incase he attacked me. _

_"But that wouldn't be very courteous of me would it, stealing a fellow vampire's link?" A malicious smile played about his lips. _

_"How about I drink some of your blood now, it will be our little secret."_

_I tried to walk back but I couldn't, the hedge was in the way. I struggled a bit without realising what I was doing. _

_'Now now Darcy, I only want to have a little fun."_

_"Get off me!" I screamed. _

_He slapped me around the face, his long nails scraping my skin. I gave a slight scream of pain and collapsed on the floor, no longer being held by Lex. Alec was right I was losing strength from not eating, why did he have to be right?_

_Lex dragged me back on to my feet. "It's more fun when they put up a fight. I've changed my mind. I do like you after all."_

_I looked up as if the sky would offer me a way out, or maybe it's just because I couldn't stand to look at his face. _

_"I see you've chosen the neck then." He said. _

_What? I was confused. Lex lent his head in, getting slowly closer to my neck. I understood now, he was talking about places to bite me. I struggled harder, but I was getting weaker by the second. I tried pushing him away but it was useless. _

_I suddenly heard a low growl coming from somewhere but I couldn't see anything. I felt something scrape my neck lightly before Lex was thrown off me. I instinctively pulled my hand to my neck, I looked at my hand, there wasn't any blood thankfully. I looked up from my hand, my cheek still aching from the slap. Alec was standing protectively in front of me in a defensive stance. Lex was growling at him, menacingly. I didn't like it. _

_"Get out of here Lex!" Alec shouted._

_"Come on, fight me you coward." Lex retorted. _

_I closed my eyes, I couldn't watch. I couldn't hear anything happening though. I opened my eyes, neither of them had moved. They were growling at each other, low rumbling growls, like dogs. Eventually Lex stopped growling and ran off. I instantly relaxed. I regretted it because all the energy that I had left me, and I passed out. _


	11. Chapter 11

"_Darcy?" I heard Alec repeat my name, it was distant at first, and I thought I was dreaming. I opened my eyes to see Alec knelt down beside me. It took me a moment to realise that I had passed out. I was lying on the floor. _

_"Are you hurt, did he bite you?" Alec asked me. _

_I smiled at his concern. "No, I'm just tired."_

_He frowned but then smiled, probably relieved I wasn't hurt. He scooped me up easily in his arms. I closed my eyes, the motion making me dizzy. When I felt we had stopped moving I opened them again, making sure the dizziness had resided. I was back in the dreaded room, lying on the bed. I couldn't see where Alec went. I closed my eyes again. _

_"I told you to eat," Alec growled making me jump. I felt him sit on the edge of the bed. I opened my eyes. "Here," he said pushing a glass of water into my hand. _

_"Wait let me sit up," I handed him back the water and struggled to sit myself up. Before I had a chance to try harder Alec pulled me up with one hand. He handed me back the glass and I sipped the water slowly. _

_"Have this to," he pulled a tray off the table and set it on my lap. It was loaded with food. I still wasn't hungry but I didn't want to argue. I rolled my eyes and started to eat. He watched me as I ate. I put down my fork._

_"You're staring at me again," I said frowning. _

_"Sorry," he mumbled and got up and walked onto the balcony. _

_"Alec," I called him, but not too loudly, I didn't have much strength after all._

_He walked back into the room._

_I was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry about yesterday by the fountain." I didn't really want to explain any further but luckily, he understood what I meant. _

_"No it's ok, I'm sorry; I don't want to push you into anything. And I'm sorry you had to fall into the fountain," he smiled which made me smile. _

_"Do you still like me?" He asked me._

_"Of course, I mean, you've saved my life three times now."_

_"Three? Really? Already?"_

"_Well, when I was bleeding to death the first time, the second I almost drowned, and the third, well nearly sucked dry."_

_He smiled, "Look I have to go, things to do, just stay here, eat and rest."_

_I nodded. He was halfway to the door when I called after him. "Alec, wait," I paused. "Can you stay with me tonight? I don't...I mean..." I trailed off, but he seemed to understand. I didn't want to be left alone. I was scared Lex was going to come back. He walked back towards me, sitting on the bed next to me. _

_"I told you I wouldn't let him hurt you."_

_"It was a bit close today," I retorted._

_"But nothing happened," he said in defense. "Don't worry, you're safe."_

_I smiled meekly. _

_"Now eat up."_

_I groaned. "You're so bossy."_

_He smiled. "I know."_

_The following morning I awoke to find that Alec was not there. Memories of the previous day came flooding back to me. My stomach flipped over as I thought of Lex. I tried to push the memory of him from my mind. My stomach grumbled as I sat up; at least I got my appetite back. I showered and got dressed and came out of the bathroom to find that Doreen had already left breakfast. I ate it greedily. I thought back to the day before as I ate, I asked Alec to stay with me, I must have fallen asleep before he got back, if he did come back. Alec came in as I finishing the milk at the bottom of my cereal. He smiled when he saw I was eating. _

_"Doesn't Zane come to see me anymore?" I asked as I put down my empty bowl. _

_"Morning to you to," he said frowning slightly. "He doesn't need to visit now does he? You're not ill or hurt." He said answering my question, although he looked displeased. _

_I frowned, slightly saddened. "Is he still staying here or has he left?"_

_He sighed and sat down on the chair opposite me. "He's still here, and he's going to stay until after the Placing."_

"_Doesn't he want to come a visit me?" I asked; I missed Zane, even though I had only seen him days previous. _

_"He's just busy," he avoided my gaze and I didn't think he was telling the whole truth. "Do you want some more food?" He asked changing the subject. _

_I frowned. "Not really." _

_"Just ask one of the staff for more food if you get hungry."_

_I nodded. There was silence between us again. Alec stared at the floor._

_"What's wrong?" I asked._

_"How do you know something's wrong?" He carried on staring at the floor. _

_"You're always silent when there's something wrong," I said smiling. _

_He looked up at me and smiled slightly. "We have guests staying the night. But don't worry," he said looking at my face, which was probably looking terrified. "It's Maveric and a couple of his companions," I relaxed a little on hearing this, from what I had heard Maveric didn't kill people. "He wants to meet you. I don't have much of an objection to it, I trust him. But I thought I'd ask you first," he looked at me pleading. _

_"If you really do trust him, then ok. If you haven't noticed I haven't had much luck with vampires recently."_

_He smiled. "You can stay in here for most of the evening if you want, Maveric only wants to meet you, and then you're free to do what you like."_

"_What about Lex?" I asked, slightly nervous._

"_Don't worry; he won't try anything, especially not with a group of Valik's in the house," he smiled. "If you still don't feel safe, stay in here, it's probably the safest place for you."_

_I smiled slightly and changed the subject. "Why didn't you tell me it was a bite attack?" I asked, remembering what Lex had told me the previous day. I was referring back to the time he kidnapped me. He frowned and then growled and I swear I heard him say Morvan. _

_"I didn't want to say anything incase it scared you," he finally said._

"_It's ok, at least I know now," I replied. _

_Alec stood up, "I have to go now," he said. _

_I nodded; his visits were getting shorter and shorter. I sighed and wished I were at home, where there were no death threats and bloodthirsty vampires. I didn't want him to go, scared that Lex would turn up, but I tried to reassure myself he wouldn't. I didn't know what to do for the rest of the day, I was too scared to go outside or leave my room. I withered away the day lying on my bed daydreaming. _

_As I had just finished getting dressed from the shower I had taken, there was a knock on the door. Doreen came in with dinner. _

"_Master Alec asked me to tell you that I am to bring you downstairs in about an hour for Master Maveric to meet you."_

_I nodded staying silent. As she left, I moved over to the food she had left on the side and started to eat. Not too long after I had finished Doreen re-emerged at the door. I got up and followed her. I had put on a dress, not a posh one, or anything, just something a bit smarter for the occasion. I followed Doreen left down the corridor and then down the grand staircase. I was a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect. Doreen lead me left at the bottom of the stairs and walked me down a corridor. We arrived at a closed door to which Doreen knocked. There came a muffled reply and Doreen opened the door. She walked in, me trailing behind her._

"_Masters," she said curtseying and then turned to go, leaving me in the room. _

_The room was quite large, overlooking a large field and part of the forest. A few men (I guessed were vampires) were scattered throughout the room, some seated on sofas, others standing up. My eyes diverted to Alec who was sitting on an obscenely large sofa in the room. He was smiling. _

"_There she is," a voice sounded. I looked towards the source of the voice. A young looking man was seated opposite Alec who my eyes had missed, he had his head turned looking at me. _

"_Maveric, this is Darcy, my link," Alec said standing up moving towards me._

_Maveric stood up, taking his time. Alec moved me towards Maveric, this made me nervous, but Alec seemed exceptionally calm, which helped ease my anxiety a little. As I got closer to Maveric, he didn't seem as young as I had first thought. His general appearance made him look young, except the slight wrinkles around his eyes, but the way he moved made him seem much older. His movements were not as graceful as the vampires I had met, and he was much slower. _

"_It's nice to finally meet you," he said to me, "Alec's had you hidden here for months, not letting anyone see you," he smiled sweetly. _

_Months? I had never thought about how long I had been here. I must have been unconscious for most of it, but still, I couldn't believe I had never thought to ask how long I had been here. I smiled in reply not knowing what to say. Alec sat me down next to him on the sofa; Maveric also sitting down on the sofa opposite._

_Maveric stared at me, which made me feel very uncomfortable. He looked thoughtful, lines wrinkling his forehead. _

"_Tell me Darcy, do you like it here?" He asked, still studying me. _

"_Yes," I answered, thinking the opposite. It really wasn't that bad here, but there were too many near death experiences then I liked. _

_He raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't believe me, but then smiled. _

"_I'm glad; Alec wouldn't want to have a rebellious link would he?" It was a rhetorical question, but I wondered if there was something behind what he was saying. I tried to look at Alec to see his expression, but it was hard, he was too close for me to see, and I didn't want to make looking at him obvious. _

"_I don't know Maveric, I like a challenge," Alec replied, laughing slightly._

_Maveric laughed as well. Was there something I was missing in that joke? Maveric and Alec chatted for a while; Maveric occasionally asking me questions. I refrained from saying much, still not feeling comfortable or safe in fact. Finally, Maveric stood up, Alec following suit, pulling me up with him. _

"_It was nice meeting you Darcy, I'm sure I'll see you around," Maveric said to me._

"_It was nice to meet you to," was all I said. _

_Alec touched my shoulder to get my attention, "Doreen will take you back to your room, I have business to attend to for now, I'll see you tomorrow," he said._

_One of the men in the room opened the door and I saw Doreen outside waiting for me. I walked out of the room towards her and followed her down the hallway._

_I could hear voices coming from the room I had just left, the door still open. _

"_You need to soon, Alec, how will you know she's right, unless you try, it's getting too late to choose another one?" I heard Maveric say, quite quietly, but I hadn't walked that far from the room to not hear him speak._

"_It will be fine," Alec replied. _

_I wanted to stop and listen, but I didn't know what would happen if I got caught and I didn't think Doreen would be too pleased so I carried on walking. What did Maveric mean; "choose another one," was he talking about me being Alec's link? And what does Alec need to do soon? _


	12. Chapter 12

_I woke up in the morning to the smell of food. I sat up and saw breakfast was lying on the side. I looked out onto the balcony; it was bright outside. I must have slept in late. I ate the food and then got dressed. It took a lot of courage but I decided that it was safe to leave my room, and that Lex wouldn't be lurking around the corner. I slowly opened the door, the hallway outside was empty and quiet. I decided to go to the library, as ever, I didn't want to go outside, as much as I tried to be brave, I didn't think I could be brave enough to go out into the open. I found a book when I got to the library and sat in one of the corners of the room on the floor. I read until the light through huge window started to fade and then I made my way back to my room. I paused at a window on the first floor corridor to look outside. It gloomy and dull, it looked like a thunderstorm was about to happen. I quite liked thunderstorms although I wasn't too keen on the rain. I turned my head away from the overcast sky and carried on walking. I didn't get very far however, bumping into something and almost falling over backwards if the something didn't catch me. I looked up to see Alec. He looked troubled. _

"_There you are," he said._

"_Why?" I asked looking puzzled. _

"_Come on," he replied leading me towards my room._

"_Where were you?" he asked as we were walking._

"_I was in the library."_

"_Figures," he mumbled._

_We arrived at my room, Alec ushering me through the door. I sat on the edge of the bed; Alec stood standing._

"_Rosie is staying here for a while," he said. _

_I was confused for a while, not remembering who Rosie was, and then it came to me, the ex vampire girlfriend of Alec's. I frowned._

"_Is she dangerous?" I asked concerned._

"_I don't think so, just jealous."_

"_Jealousy can put people in a different state of mind that could lead them to do anything," I retorted._

_He frowned. "She won't hurt you," he said firmly._

"_How long were you two together?" I asked, actually interested._

"_Why are you jealous," he joked, slightly smiling._

"_No, just curious."_

"_Fifty years, well forty nine to be exact."_

"_That's...long," I replied._

"_Not really, not for vampires anyway. I was quite young to have my first lover. But we met through Maveric. Which is why she is here. Maveric is concerned about mine and yours relationship," he paused._

"_What do you mean relationship?" I asked frowning._

"_I mean you being my link, I haven't drank from you yet."_

_I shivered._

"_Exactly, I don't think you're ready yet," he said. "He's worried because the Placing is soon, and I still haven't drank. If I don't like the taste, then I can find another link, but once the Placing has taken place, I'm forbidden to have another link, unless my old one dies."_

"_Is this what Maveric was saying to you after I left yesterday?" I asked, now what Maveric had said previously was a lot clearer then it was before._

_He frowned. "Yes."_

"_What happens if you don't like the taste of my blood before the Placing?" I asked, not knowing if I wanted to know. _

"_Well you can't go home, so there are two options, you either have to stay here and become staff, or you're, well…"_

_I think he was hinting at death, but I wasn't sure. _

"_But if I didn't like you're blood, I would make sure you'd stay here."_

"_Great," I mumbled, thinking that maybe death was better than serving vampires for the rest of my life. "So where does Rosie come into this?"_

"_Maveric brought Rosie into the vampire world one hundred and fifty years ago. Which is how we met, Rosie is practically family to Maveric. Maveric set us up together. I broke up with her and didn't hear from her until the other day, which is when I'm sure she found about you as my link. Maveric I think is trying to rekindle an old flame."_

"_So he doesn't like me?" I asked referring to Maveric._

"_Of course he does, he's just looking out for me, because it's getting very close to the Placing and if I don't drink your blood soon it will be too late to find a replacement. But I'm sure you'll be fine." He added as if reassuring me. "Rosie will always be there then incase of an emergency, but trust me, she's the last person I'd want to drink from, now anyway." _

_I'm not sure if that last comment was needed, it sounded as though it was there to make me jealous. _

"_When is she supposed to be here?" I asked._

"_Anytime soon," he replied._

"_Oh," was all I could say. _

"_Don't worry it will be fine, she'll probably be annoying me too much to even come and see you."_

"_Thanks," I said, not thankful at all._

_Alec sighed. _

"_When's the latest you can drink without having to have Rosie as a link?" I asked._

_He didn't answer, he stayed silent for a while before saying, "She's just got here."_

_It was my turn to sigh._

"_You don't have to talk to her or even look at her while she's here," he said._

"_How long is she here for?" _

"_Probably until I've drank from you and liked it, or until I find someone else."_

"_Great," I said._

"_Look, I'd better go Darcy, if I don't go and see her; she'll come up here looking for me."_

"_Well, what are you waiting for? Go! Hurry!" I said putting on a fake urgent voice._

_He smiled and went to walk out of the room._

"_Wait," I said, "One more question. Did you love her? Did you enjoy spending fifty years with her?"_

_He stopped and turned around, "I did, but we had our ups and downs and in the end it just wasn't working, she has the wrong type of personality for me I think." _

_With that he left, closing the door quietly behind him. Was it me, or did I actually care if he still had feelings for this vampire or not?_


	13. Chapter 13

_I had fallen asleep in my clothes the night before, I couldn't even remember lying down. I got up, showered and dressed, opting for some jeans and a hoodie; it was still raining outside, and thundering, I didn't think it had stopped. I remembered that Rosie was staying here. I sighed having second thoughts about going to the library again. That's probably what she would want though, for me to cower in my room. I sighed and opened the door, inspecting the corridor again before I left. It was empty as usual. I started walking and then jumped as I saw someone walking around the corner at the end of the corridor. It was only Doreen, carrying a tray of food, my breakfast. I'm sure she had seen me jump, but she didn't say anything. After telling her I was going to the library, I asked to take the tray with me, which she gladly handed over. I reached the library where I sat down in the same corner as the day before, munching on my toast and reading a new book. I wondered what else I could do in this place, because eventually I would get bored of reading all day. Maybe when the weather cleared up a bit and I felt a bit braver, I could go for walks in the ground or something, just to pass the time. I hated to admit it, but I missed work. Maybe I could find some work to do here; I mean there must be a lot to clean. I left when it was dark again, picking up the empty tray from the morning, I didn't know what to do with and I wasn't going to start hunting for a kitchen in this place, so I decided to take it back to my room, where Doreen could take it away later. I managed to get to the floor where my bedroom was when I saw her. Rosie was walking towards me. I tried not to look at her, but I could sense that she was looking for a fight. _

"_What are you a servant now," she snorted._

_I frowned but ignored her and carried on walking only to find that she stopped me. She was taller than I was which made her somewhat intimidating._

"_Where do you think you're going, servants quarters are two floors down?" When was this girl going to go away? I tried to step around her but she blocked me. _

"_Please just let me go," I said, not pleadingly, but in a fed up tone. _

"_I don't think so, you're trying to steal Alec away from me, and I'm not going to let you off so easily."_

"_What planet are you from?" I said half shouting getting angry. "I've had no interest in being Alec's link whatsoever, have him if you want, but I think you'll find he doesn't want you."_

_Her face turned very angry, making any beauty she had disappear. There was a huge crashing noise as I reaslised she had knocked the tray out of my hand and into the wall, where the china had smashed and landed on the floor. This was not a girl to mess with. She grabbed my hoodie and pushed me against a door pinning me there. _

"_You listen to me, Alec loves me whatever you say, and I will be his link, your blood doesn't smell remotely nice. You're not good enough for him, I mean look at the way you dress, you're a disgrace," she hissed at me. _

"_Give it a break, you only came back to him because you realised he was going to come into a lot of power soon, and you want that for yourself," I whispered angrily. _

_She growled and bared her teeth exposing the sharpness of them. The next minute I was being thrown against the door, falling and landing badly on one of my legs. It looked like she wasn't finished hurting me. Without thinking I grabbed the tray that she had thrown earlier and wacked it around her head as she got close to me. Adrenaline was pumping very fast through my body. I dropped the tray, the impact stinging my hands. I stared at her as she recovered from the blow remarkably quick. _

"_Why you little…" She cut off, pulling me up by my hoodie. She opened the nearby door and pushed me through an unfamiliar room and towards a balcony at the opposite end of the room. I squirmed hoping she wasn't going to do what I thought she might. It was no use struggling, she was too strong for me. She opened the doors and pushed me onto the balcony, the heavy rain hitting me hard and soaking me instantly._

"_I'm going to end this right here," she screamed at me. "You can never have Alec; he was never yours to have."_

_She pushed me to the balcony wall._

"_Get off me!" I screamed at her and struggling in a fruitless attempt to escape. "I told you, you can have him!" _

_She lifted me up easily and I felt my feet leave the ground. I screamed again, scared for my life. She lifted me up high enough to hold my whole body over the balcony, exposing me to the ground below, she was the only thing keeping me up. I stopped squirming at this point, knowing that she would most likely drop me if I did. She must have seen a look of pure horror and fear on my face but all I saw in hers was anger and jealousy. _

"_Any last words?" She asked, but before she gave me a chance to say anything, she let go and I felt myself fall. _


	14. Chapter 14

_The falling sensation didn't last very long but then I realised that it was because I wasn't falling. I looked up and saw that Alec had grabbed hold of my hand and I was dangling off the balcony. I looked down seeing the hard concrete floor beneath me, making me shiver at the thought that I could have landed on it. Alec hoisted me up easily and carried me into the room and laid me on a bed I hadn't seen when I had first entered the room. I looked around and saw Rosie was on the floor, it looked as though Alec had pushed her out of the way to grab me. _

"_What do you think you were doing?" He walked angrily towards her by the balcony._

_She stood up and put on a very sad expression, "I'm sorry Alec, I was doing what I thought was best for us."_

"_What's best for us! There is no us Rosie, there hasn't been an "us" for fifty years now!"_

"_But maybe we could try again, I could be your link and we could spend eternity together," she replied._

"_I've already chosen my link," he growled. "Just get out of my sight."_

_She got up slowly and left the room staring at me as she left, if looks could kill, I would most certainly be dead. When she had left, Alec turned around to look at me._

"_Are you ok?" He whispered._

"_I'm fine," I stated._

"_What did you say to her to make her angry?" He asked, raising his voice a little._

"_What?" I questioned him, "What did I say?" Alec made it seem as though he was blaming this on me. _

"_Well you must have said something to make her so angry."_

"_Look Alec, she was the one looking for a fight not me," I stated, standing up and getting quite angry now. _

"_And you gave it to her," he retorted. _

"_She's delusional, not to mention jealous," I yelled pointing at the door where Darcy had left. _

"_All I'm saying is you shouldn't give her reason to start a fight."_

"_How dare you, she doesn't need a reason to start a fight, you don't know what happened. You said Rosie wouldn't hurt me and now she's just tried to throw me off a balcony!" I screamed at him._

"_Well maybe she had no intention of hurting you; maybe you started the fight which pushed her to hurt you."_

"_You're unbelievable," I said dropping my voice to barely above a whisper. I started to walk away from him towards the door. I couldn't be bothered to fight anymore. I didn't understand how he could defend Rosie; maybe he still loved her. Well whatever the reason he was out of order blaming this on me, he didn't know what had happened. I opened the door, my clothes making a slopping sound as I moved, soaked from the rain. Rosie was standing outside looking smug with a huge grin spread across her face, obviously she had listened to everything that had been said. I walked to my room, which wasn't that far away. As I was entering my room, I heard Rosie talking to Alec._

"_It's ok baby, maybe you two just weren't meant to be linked."_

"_Go away Rose," Alec replied._

_And with that I slammed my bedroom door shut behind me. _

_When I was dry and had fresh clothes on, I collapsed on my bed, my head resting on my pillow, staring up at the ceiling. I felt a cool breeze rush by me and then I realised that there was something next to me. I jumped. It was only Alec. He had lain on the bed next to me, looking at the ceiling also. I sighed. We were silent for a while before Alec decided to say something._

"_I'm sorry," he said._

_I didn't say anything._

"_With the Placing coming up, I'm stressed, I can't help it, I'm sorry. It doesn't help that Maveric keeps piping on about my link either," he said in a pleading tone, trying to make me forgive him. _

_I stayed staring at the ceiling quite._

"_Darcy," he whispered turning his head to look at me._

"_She was looking to hurt me Alec, right from when she saw me walking her way. I tried to avoid her but she wouldn't let me past, so I decided to tell her the truth, which she didn't seem to like. I didn't know she was jealous enough to try to kill me."_

"_Just from now on, don't say anything to her," he sighed. _

_He still didn't seem as though he thought Rosie was the one who started this. It made me angry but I was too tired to start arguing again. I stayed silent, listening to the rain beating on the balcony doors._

"_How long will this storm last?" I asked changing the subject._

_Alec turned his head back towards the ceiling again. "Maybe a week, or two."_

_Alec stayed, longer than he ever had before. We just talked, about anything and everything. I had to admit, it was fun, and I hadn't spoken so freely to anyone like I did with Alec for a long time. I think work had taken up most of my time back at home; I rarely had a social life, which made me sad because I realised that I had wasted my life. _

"_Alec I need something to do here," I said, it must have been the early hours of the morning, my voice was sore from talking so much. _

"_What do you mean?" He asked._

"_I mean, I'm wasting my days here, practically not doing anything, I want something to do."_

"_You'll get bored of doing things after a while."_

"_What do you mean? No I won't."_

"_When you live for hundreds of years, it all gets a bit repetitive," he stated._

"_Well I don't have hundreds of years, I only have now."_

_He frowned. "You have hundreds of years too."_

_I scrunched up my face in confusion. "What do you mean?"_

"_As long as I keep drinking from you, you'll be immortal, well unless, you know, you're thrown off a balcony, or stabbed or something else fatal."_

_I was stunned. "You never told me that!" _

"_I'm sorry, it's just obvious to me, I didn't even think to mention it."_

"_I don't think I could live as a long as you, I'd go insane."_

"_No you won't, they'll be lots of things to do once I'm leader of the Valik."_

"_But won't I look awful; I mean a couple of hundred years won't help anyone in their looks."_

_He laughed slightly, "You'll look the same," he stated. "You'll stay young as long as I keep drinking."_

"_Oh," I wasn't sure if I did want to live for hundreds of years, but then again, I'm sure lots of people would love to have extended lives, I mean if I got bored, I could always, well, die. _

_I closed my eyes, getting dizzy from tiredness._

"_Do you mind living as long as me?" He asked._

"_No….I…." I had more to say but I never managed to say it, trailing off into a deep sleep. _


	15. Chapter 15

_A few days had passed and I hadn't seen Alec at all, not since our last long talk on my bed. The rain was still pouring down heavily outside. I had decided I wasn't going to leave my room, not until today, just incase I bumped into Rosie again, I thought a few days was enough for her to cool off. I hadn't really done much in the past few days, I had Doreen bring me up a few books, but too be honest, I was getting bored of reading all day, I needed to do something more practical. I decided that today I would go and look for Alec, as he hadn't come and seen me, and ask him to find me something to do. I thought that maybe I could find Zane too; because I hadn't seen him for years, it felt like anyway. Maybe he had gone away somewhere for a while, that's why I hadn't seen him around. I got dressed, opting for a skirt and a tank top, at least Rosie couldn't complain about the way I was dressed today, and left my room. I had no idea where Alec could be, I'd never had to go and look for him before. I thought downstairs would probably be best. There was no one around, which was unhelpful, thinking that maybe I could ask someone if he or she knew where Alec was. I decided to go to the room where I had first met Maveric. He wasn't there. I doubt he would be outside because it was still raining, well if he was I wasn't going to look for him. I walked past many rooms, not sure if I should look in them, incase a vampire other then Alec was in them. I decided to play it safe and look for a member of staff. I came across a young woman a tad shorter then I was, cleaning a mirror in a hallway after about fifteen minutes of starting my search. I asked if she knew where Alec was, she assumed his was in his study, where he spent most of his time nowadays. She pointed me in the direction I should go. I followed her directions to a corridor that was darker than the rest, as the sun was on the other side of the house to where I was. Before I could reach the door the woman told me was the study I heard shouting coming from inside. _

"_What kind of link is she when you don't even drink her blood?" I heard someone shouting from inside, it sounded like Rosie, great. _

"_Rose, just drop it will you." I heard Alec's voice sound from within the room._

"_I'm sorry baby; I can't help it that I still love you. I'm just looking out for you. I want what's best for you." _

_Yeah right, I thought, she's just after the power._

"_Here, let me give you a massage, it will help ease your tension."_

"_Rose, no, I have work to do," he replied. Good, I thought, I couldn't see why he couldn't refuse to have her in the house. _

_I didn't know whether to approach the study or not, not with Rosie there, but then again if she did come out I was going to see her anyway, at least with Alec there she couldn't hurt me, I hoped. I walked slowly to the door, but heard voices again and couldn't help but want to eaves drop. _

"_That's it, you just relax," I heard Rosie say. _

_Please don't say he gave in to her I thought. There was silence for a while and I decided that maybe I'd interrupt Rosie just to see the look on her face at my interruption. I didn't bother knocking; opening the door straight away. _

_What I saw, was unbelievable. Rosie was perched on the edge of a desk at the far end of the room, which was quite small compared to some rooms in this house. Alec was standing in front of her, facing her, and it looked like they were kissing. I gasped accidentally, the scene utterly surprising me. Alec must have heard the gasp as he turned around. What I saw shocked me even more then the kissing. He had blood soaked lips and Rosie's lip was bleeding uncontrollably. He had obviously bit her while they were kissing, maybe on purpose, I didn't know. Alec looked stunned at my appearance apparently, Rosie on the other hand was as smug as I'd ever seen her. She tilted her head back letting out a slight evil laugh through her self-satisfied smile. _

"_Darcy," I heard Alec whisper he seemed disappointed. _

_I closed the door and ran back to my room as soon as my brain recovered from the shock. I sat on my bed, replaying the scene in my head. Alec didn't come after me, well why would he. I suppose a part of me hoped he would, to say he was sorry at least, or explain why he did it. Then a thought occurred to me, why should he bother, it's not as if he cheated on me. It annoyed me that I was upset about it, I shouldn't be. If he wanted to have a different link than me, then why couldn't he, but why did it have to be little miss arrogant Rosie. After what seemed like hours of sitting on my bed thinking about it, I concluded and hated to admit it, even to myself, that the cause as to why I felt dreadfully upset was that I had truly and irrevocably, fallen in love with this vampire. _


	16. Chapter 16

_I couldn't believe that I had let myself fall in love with him, Alec, of all people. Maybe I had liked him for a while, but denied myself the truth. Even though he had chosen a new link, I wouldn't be permitted to go home; I'd have to stay and work here for the rest of my life, watching him enjoy his life with her. No wonder he hadn't come to see me for the last few days, he was avoiding me. There was a knock at the door. I snapped my head around to see who it was, hoping it was Alec. It wasn't, it was Doreen with dinner. She left the plate on the side; I didn't feel like eating, it had only been a few hours since the 'incident'. I sighed. I opened the balcony doors to try and drown out my thoughts through listening to the rain outside. I realised then, that I hadn't opened these doors since the occurrence with Lex. Cool air hit my face as I opened them. I raised my hand out into the rain as if to test it. It was cool against my skin. I withdrew my hand and lent against the nearby wall looking outside. The rain was still as heavy as the day it had started. Large drops were splashing onto the balcony floor, almost hitting me, but not quite. I was so intent on watching the rain that I hadn't realised Alec had come into the room. His voice made me jump._

"_It's pretty isn't it," he said. _

_I assumed he meant the rain but I really didn't care._

"_Go away Alec," I said. _

_I saw him frown out of the corner of my eyes. He was quite close to me. He walked to the opposite wall by the door and also leant on it, his arms crossed. _

"_What happened earlier," he said, "did it scare you?" _

"_Not particularly," I was trying to say as little as possible to him._

"_Why did you run away?" He asked._

"_I felt like I was intruding," I stated, completely lying, but I wasn't going to tell him the truth, that it upset me. _

"_You weren't intruding on anything."_

"_So when I walked on the two of you kissing, I wasn't intruding," I said before I could stop myself, so much for saying as little as possible. _

"_That's a misunderstanding," Alec said calmly. _

"_How is it a misunderstanding?" I queried him raising my voice slightly. I pushed myself off the wall and went to walk further into the room. Alec blocked my way. _

"_It wasn't supposed to happen, it was an accident."_

"_So kissing someone can be an accident now?" I was too angry now, why was he making up excuses, if he liked her, why couldn't he just say. I wanted to walk away, but I couldn't he was blocking me, it was a stupid idea, but I decided to walk backwards into the rain just so I wouldn't have to be so close to him. He followed me, great. _

_I sighed, "Does this mean she's going to be your link?" _

_Rain was already seeping through me; I could feel my hair going limp. _

"_Of course it doesn't. Look it was a mistake, I'm stressed right now, and she caught me off guard that's all."_

"_You didn't have to bite her though did you?"_

"_Why are you so upset about this?" He sighed, not answering my question. _

"_Because…because…" I couldn't think of an excuse quickly enough. _

_He frowned at me waiting for me to reply. I groaned. _

"_I'm upset because I have feelings for you."_

_Before I knew it, he was closer than ever before, so close that his lips were on mine. It took me a while to even realise he was kissing me. He cupped my face in his hands, and I kissed him back, the rain beating intently on and around us. His lips were cold; the same as his body, which was weird, but the way his kissed made up for it, no wonder Rosie was after him. His kisses were tender and soft, making me want more. After what felt like an eternity, he pulled away. I was slightly dismayed, which he must have seen. He still had his hands around my face, staring at me intently. _

"_Come on," he finally said, "you're soaking wet."_

_He dropped his hands away from my face and pulled on my arm gently, leading me inside. I realised I was soaked, the clothes very heavy and sticking to my skin. He released my arm and disappeared for a millisecond into the bathroom before returning with two towels. It was only then that I realised he was soaked through to, his shirt clung to him, showing his muscles, which I couldn't help but glance at every so often. I sat on the chair opposite my bed with the towel wrapped around me. Alec perched on the edge of the bed facing me. _

"_I don't love her." Alec said, referring to Rosie. "I told you, she's only here for the chance for a bit of power."_

_I looked at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. _

"_I don't want her to be my link, I want you," he spoke again. _

_I stayed looking at the floor not knowing what to say. Alec appeared in front of me, kneeling on the floor, so I was forced to look at him. _

"_Darcy?" he asked, trying to get a response from me. _

"_If it's true, then you can, you know…" I spoke, cutting off because I didn't want to say drink my blood. _

"_Maybe not now," Alec said understanding me. _

"_It's what you want isn't it, you said you're stressed because of it, so do it," I replied looking into his eyes. _

_He frowned but then pulled me up so I was standing. _

"_Are you sure?" He asked._

"_Alec," I said sternly._

_He kissed me again, I wasn't expecting it, but I was glad. He kisses trailed away from my mouth, gently sucking on the skin down my neck. It was total bliss; I lost my senses, just enjoying the attention he was giving me. I suddenly felt a sharp pain, bringing back to earth a little. I guessed he bit into my neck. I tensed up slightly, waiting for nonstop pain but what followed was completely the opposite. A vast sense of euphoria, I had never felt before overtook me, much better than his kisses. If he was taking my blood, it's not what I had ever expected it to be, this was something unanticipated. Word's couldn't describe how it felt, maybe pleasant is a good word. It was almost as if someone had given me something to knock my senses out of commission. Alec soon pulled away; the euphoric sensation was swiftly replaced by dizziness and fatigue. I swayed on the spot feeling as if I was going to fall over. I felt Alec's hands grasp my arms to hold me still. _

"_It will feel like this at first until you get used to it," he stated. _

_I felt my feet leave the ground as he picked me up and laid me on my bed._

"_Did you say, a while ago that vampires can drink from people other than their links?" I asked closing my eyes to help the dizziness. _

"_They can, links are really only there when there's no time to go hunting." _

_I nodded. I felt the bed sink by my feet as Alec sat on it. _

"_What did you think?" I asked._

"_What do I think about what?" I felt Alec move to face me._

_I opened my eyes and pulled my head up to look at him. "Do I taste ok?" I smiled meekly. _

_He smiled, "You taste amazing."_

_I dropped my head, seeing too many Alecs for my liking. I started at the ceiling seeing just the top of Alec's head. _

"_Does this mean I'm stuck with you now?" I asked._

"_Of course," he replied. _

_I closed my eyes again, "Good," I said before falling off to sleep. _


	17. Chapter 17

_I woke up to the sun shining through the shut balcony doors, the rain had finally stopped. Alec must have closed them after I had fallen asleep. I sat up, stretching and then jumped as I saw Alec lying next to me. He was topless and lying on his back, so I had a clear view of his abs. I didn't want to look at him too long incase he woke up and saw me, that would be embarrassing. He was striking in his appearance, carved like an angel. I shook my head, subconsciously trying to get rid of the thoughts. As quietly as possible, I moved out of the bed, trying not to wake Alec up. I went to the bathroom and reaslised that I wasn't wearing the same clothes I had fallen asleep in. Maybe Alec had changed me because I had fallen asleep in my damp clothes and then I remembered that he had kissed me and drank my blood! That was a day to remember. I had a quick shower and then walked back into the room to grab some clothes. Alec was still lying on the bed with his eyes closed. I had a horrible feeling that he was awake and just pretending to be asleep. I walked back to the bathroom, changed and walked back into the room._

"_That's nice," I heard Alec's voice, I looked towards the bed to find he wasn't there. I felt arms snake around my stomach and pulled me into an embrace. Alec's appeared by my right shoulder. _

_I jumped slightly. "What is?" I asked, not sure what he was talking about. _

"_Your dress," he replied. _

"_Oh." _

_It wasn't anything special, but it was pretty. He spun me around gracefully to face him. The closeness of him shocking me. I still liked him; I just didn't want things to go too fast. He kissed me unexpectedly and all thoughts went out of my head. Before I had a chance to regain control, there was a loud knock on the door. Alec pulled away and I thought I heard him growl. _

"_What?" He said quietly._

_The bedroom door opened and a man, probably a vampire, stood in view. _

"_Sir, there's a complication downstairs, Maveric asks you come down immediately."_

"_Fine, go, I'll be down shortly," Alec replied._

_The vampire closed the door and Alec and I were left alone again. _

"_I'll come back as soon as it's sorted," Alec said to me before he left quickly. _

_I walked to the balcony doors and pulled them open. A cool breeze hit my face, blowing back my hair. _

"_Hello Darcy," I jumped as I heard the voice, not expecting it. I looked around for the source but I already knew who it was. Lex jumped down from somewhere above landing neatly and elegantly in front of me. _

_I felt my eyes widen in horror as I came face to face with this vampire yet again. I started to move slowly backwards towards the bedroom door._

"_Ah, ah ah. You're not going anywhere," Lex said to me in such a calm tone. _

_I turned away from him and bolted towards the door. I didn't get very far before a felt my body being yanked backwards._

"_Alec!" I yelled before I could stop myself. _

_It took me a moment to realise that I was on my back, Lex was crouched over me covering my mouth with his hand to prevent me from yelling again. He looked angry now. _

"_Listen hear, you little human, you'll do as I say or you'll be dead within a second, understand," he growled. "Now, keep quiet."_

_He took his hand away from my mouth and pulled me to a standing position. He turned my body so my back was pressed against his stomach and walked me towards the door. _

"_We are going to pay Alec a little visit," he said smiling. _


	18. Chapter 18

_Lex pushed me roughly down the stairs into the hallway. I could see Alec standing by the entrance of the manor; he must have known Lex was here, but obviously not quickly enough to come to my rescue. _

"_Leave her alone Morvan," Alec growled to Lex as he was still pushing me down the stairs._

"_Now why would I want to do that?" Lex growled back just as fierce. _

"_She's got nothing to do with this, she's just a link, whatever bone you have to pick with the Valik is nothing to do with Darcy, leave her out of it," Alec shouted. _

_Lex let out a low cackle that made me shiver. "Ahh you see Valik, by taking the girl, I not only upset you and your Placing plans, but I get a little added bonus for myself."_

_Alec snarled. Lex and I had reached the ground floor now, only a few meters from Alec. I could now see that his eyes were black, huge pools of darkness that were scary to look into. More vampires had joined us now, mainly the security Alec had set up around the house to protect me, which hadn't worked very well obviously. Lex was surrounded by them; but as I thought about it what could they do to try to save me? A wave of sadness hit me. I realised that this could possibly be the last time that I would see Alec; I knew that if he or any other vampire here tried to save me I'd be dead within seconds. Even if I did make it out of here alive, Lex would only kill me later anyway; just like everyone else who had crossed his path. I could feel my eyes begin to fill up with tears, I wished they wouldn't, I closed my eyes to try to calm myself and make the tears go away. Only when the growls and snarls stopped did I open my eyes again, dryer then they were moments ago. _

"_Morvan, I'll ask you one more time. Let her go," Alec said._

"_Hear this Valik, if you or any of your men try to save your lovely link here, she'll be dead before you know it. So I suggest you move out of the way and carry on your business as usual."_

_I was doomed._

_There was silence. Alec and Lex were staring at each other intently for what seemed like hours. I was getting more and more scared as time went on. I could hear my heart pumping blood around my body, blood that would probably be spilt soon. Alec suddenly broke the stare and looked straight at me, into my eyes. But it was not the same stare he gave Lex. As he looked at me, his eyes returned to their normal colour as I saw the anger ebbing away from him. He looked hopeless, which didn't exactly make me feel any better myself. He had always been there to save me, too many times in fact. I suppose there's a limit to the amount of times your life can be saved; and by the same person to. I felt totally helpless myself, at the end of the day, all I was, was a pathetic human, I didn't understand why Alec had gone through such great lengths to keep me alive, I wasn't worth it. At least now Alec could get on with his life, I wouldn't get in his way anymore, I owed him too much already to have hope that he would save me again. Alec gave me a look, as though to say he was sorry, then returned his gaze to Lex. _

"_You hear this Morvan," Alec retorted, "I have no choice but to let you go now, but as soon as you leave, I'll be after you, and so shall every vampire of this coven, you've broken the law and practically asked for your own execution coming here today. If you even lay a finger on her, I'll make sure your death is slow, painful, and merciless."_

_Alec stepped aside so that the doorway was free to walk through. I looked down at the ground, unable to look at Alec anymore. Why couldn't he just give up on me? _

_Lex gave a cackle of laughter. "I'd like to see you try Valik." _

_Lex pushed my back without me expecting it, making me jump and almost fall over. He grabbed the top of my arm tightly, cutting the circulation off, pushing me forward all the while. Looking into Alec's eyes for what was doubtlessly the last time, unwanted tears rolled down my cheeks, while being roughly manhandled out of the door. I was leaving what was now my home, my sanctuary, something only a short while ago I would have given anything to do, but now, it was the total opposite. _

_Before we had walked very far, Lex had picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. I was too sad to care about how violent he was being. His pace picked up and I closed my eyes, hoping this nightmare would be over. _

_He stopped before long and put me down. I swayed on the spot, dizzy from being upside-down._

"_Dante, take the girl, don't even think about trying anything," I heard Lex say. _

_As my eyes started to focus I realised we were in a forest, probably the same forest I could see from my balcony. There were men everywhere, vampires by the look of it. They all looked menacing … and hungry. They must have been Lex's men. Before I had a chance to take in anymore, I was picked up again and slung over, what must have been Dante's shoulder. I didn't get a chance to see what he looked like, but I could tell he was much younger than Lex, by his posture. I closed my eyes again, but before the dizzying motion started, I heard Lex's voice._

"_Now then Darcy, let's get you home."_


	19. Chapter 19

_I woke up to darkness, as usual. I had been at Lex's abode for a few days now. I had spent an estimated day on Dante's shoulder as we travelled to where the Morvan Coven were situated. As soon as we arrived, I was taken to a room, where I had spent the last few days, not seeing or speaking to anyone. The room was dark, a small window letting in a minimal amount of sunlight. I was lying on a very hard bed, with rough, thin sheets. The room was quite small and very cold. It appeared as though I was in some sort of cave or mountain in which a residence had been carved into it. I didn't have a clue what time it was, late evening probably, I had lost track of time, sleeping whenever I could to escape the hell I was in. As I stared at the dark ceiling, thinking about how lucky I was to be kidnapped by a nice vampire at first, there was a rattling and the door to the room was opened._

"_Get up," came a harsh male voice. _

_I turned my head. There was a tiny amount of light coming from the open door, but the figure was unrecognisable. I stood up slowly, slightly dizzy from not being fed for days. _

"_Hurry up," the man spoke again. _

_I slowly walked to the figure, as I got closer, I could distinguish the males features. I recognised him as one of the men who took me away from Alec days ago. As I got nearer to him, he put his arm around my back and pushed me out of the door. I stumbled slightly, refusing to fall over. The man closed the door and walked behind me. He was holding the tops of my arms, and steering me to wherever we were going at the same time. _

"_Faster," he said. _

_Whoever he was, he was very impatient. We came to a door after various turns in the corridor. The corridors confirmed my idea of thinking we were in mountain, because it was cold and dark and the walls and ceilings were made of rock. The guy opened the door and pushed me inside. The room I was just shoved into was fairly big and much brighter than mine had been. There was a woman laying on the bed reading something. She glanced up and seconds later was standing right in front of me. She was definitely a vampire. She had dirty blonde long hair that rested on her tight fitting red dress. _

"_So this is Valik's link," she said her voice was deep and slick. "Not bad, I don't see why we just can't kill her now."_

"_You know why, Minnie," the man replied. _

"_I know," Minnie sighed. "I'll see you later Sheeno."_

_The man, Sheeno, left. _

"_Come on," Minnie said to me, closing the door and walking off. _

_I suppose I had no choice but to follow her, I think I'd hate to see her angry side. We walked for at least ten minutes; I had to half run to keep up with her, which was hard because I kept getting dizzy spells from the lack of food. When Minnie had stopped walking, we were outside, by a large lake. _

"_Go and wash," she told me sharply. "Here," she said, and threw a towel at me that was sitting on a nearby rock. _

_I caught it and walked towards the lake. I could feel Minnie's eyes watching me. I stood behind a tall rock and stripped nervously. I walked quickly to the lake and slid into it. It was cold, freezing actually. I washed quickly afraid that I would turn to ice if I stayed in there any longer then possible. I climbed out and wrapped the towel around me hastily. _

"_Follow me," Minnie said in a monotonous voice and started to walk back the way we came. _

_We ended up back in her room, where she told me to get dressed in clothes that were sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. There was a simple black dress, which I put on. It was tight fitting and too revealing for my liking, but I guessed Lex wouldn't think so. Just as I had finished getting dressed Minnie came over and started doing something with my hair. When she had stopped her fiddling she spoke. _

"_Come now."_

_Minnie walked out of the door and I followed her again feeling like a dog following its owner everywhere. We again walked down a series of corridors until ending up at yet another door. I could smell food, which made my stomach rumble. Minnie tapped on the door lightly. _

"_Come in," came the drool of a voice I recognised instantly. _

_Minnie opened the door and walked in, I followed behind her. Lex was sitting in a chair at a desk to the right of the overly large room, which was dark and unfriendly looking. I could not see much in the room, the outline of a bed straight ahead and maybe a wardrobe to the left, lit up slightly by a small flickering candle on the desk. Lex's eyes travelled over to me as I entered the room. His gaze made me feel very uncomfortable. _

"_Leave," he suddenly said in a harsh tone, his eyes darting to Minnie. _

_Minnie bowed slightly and turned to leave. I looked at the floor feeling very shy and intimidated. I heard the click of the door as it was shut behind me. I didn't like being alone with Lex, not one bit._

"_Don't worry, I won't hurt you," he said, sensing my fear, "not if you behave anyway."_

_Great that made me feel safe. _

"_Do sit down," he said standing up offering me his seat, in a polite way, which was strange. _

_I walked slowly and carefully to the chair, hoping it wasn't some sort of trick. _

"_Eat," he said, which was when I realised that there was a plate of food sitting on his desk._

_I glanced at the food, hoping it wasn't poisoned, but then again if it was it would probably save me from the terrors that would befall me here if I stayed alive. Besides I was hungry. I pulled the plate towards me and started to eat its contents. I could sense Lex walking around behind me. _

"_I've waited a long time for a link like you," Lex said, I'm glad I had my back to him so he couldn't see the look of disgust on my face. I stayed silent. "I've never smelt blood like yours before."_

_I shivered, feeling him get closer to me. This was it, he was going to drink from me, and I was going to die. _


End file.
